


X Chronicles: Rise of Repliforce

by CyrexWingblade



Series: X Chronicles [4]
Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X, Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Megaman X AU, reinterpretation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:15:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 92,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27330325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyrexWingblade/pseuds/CyrexWingblade
Summary: [continuation of Doppler Effect] When a tragic disaster strikes, the powerful Repliforce army is suspected of causing it, and the Maverick Hunters are caught in the middle! Can Megaman X avoid innocent Reploids being slaughtered with enemies on all sides?
Relationships: Alia/X (Rockman), Iris/Zero (Rockman)
Series: X Chronicles [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1993861
Comments: 5
Kudos: 9





	1. Prologue: Dark Meeting

“It's about the Maverick Hunters, General.”

Sharp optics narrowed further. The General of the Repliforce sat across a long table in his estate. His mood was as dark and stormy as the sky outside.

“They're far too eager to please the humans, and continue to hunt down the Reploids. Do you believe they pose a significant threat?”

The creature speaking was some manner of Reploid, General could tell that much, but the deliberate cloak of tattered material and the long staff it held were too deliberately ominous to be ignored.

“Perhaps...” General finally said, his voice smooth, even, and powerful.

The cloaked creature flared with some impatience. “You already know the truth, General. Their sole mission has been to destroy any Reploids who fail to do as the humans order! It's in your best interests to stop them _now_ , before they turn on you!” A nearly manic passion joined the darker voice, “You possess enough power to DESTROY THEM!”

General frowned, the sculpted mustache of metal plating angling with his expression. He then stood, his massive frame rapidly dwarfing most of the chamber beyond, especially the cloaked creature. “I agreed to this meeting because I thought you were someone else. Someone who did my soldiers a great service. You are a manipulator.”

The cloaked figure eased back slightly, suspicious. “What great service was that?”

“I am done tolerating your madness. I will not betray the humans. REMOVE YOURSELF FROM MY SIGHT.”

The cloaked figure bowed his head, clearly displeased, but then calmed. “Very well...” It stood, and drifted away from the seat. “But you will change your mind soon, I assure you...” A feral kind of laugh followed him out of the room.

General turned his back to the exit, staring out through one of the windows as lightning forked across the sky.

_So one shadow offers me the safety of my people, the next pushes me toward revolution. There's an enemy out there, and I don't know enough about it..._


	2. Lagoon's Fall

Klaxons blared. Maverick Hunter HQ was red with full alert, Reploids starting to rush to deployment points before they were even sure what the situation was. In the command center, X was at an operator console, his hands dancing across the inputs as his eyes darted across his multiple screens.

“It's the Sky Lagoon!” Dex warned loudly from his console further off to X's side.

X was already pulling up system read outs and reports... all of which were showing critical failures or bypasses of protocols.

Alia was at her own station, already mapping predicted crash zones and evacuation routes. “Commander, clear to share evacuation planning on the network?”

Signas was watching the data feed into his holographic model at the central info-table. “Do it, stay on it, and keep it updated. The Sky Lagoon is massive, bunkers may not be deep enough in the direct impact site!”

“Copy!”

X finally twisted in his seat, looking to Signas with a fierce expression. “Every single safety system has failed! Five different layers of failsafes did not go off!”

Zero bolted into the command center that moment, his ponytail lashing in his wake. “Damn, it is that bad. Can we teleport onto the Lagoon!?”

“Not safely!” Alia shouted back quickly. “It's already starting to buckle, and I can't get through to Magma Dragoon on board it!”

Dex added, “There is no way to evacuate those areas in time! Deathtoll is going to be upwards of twenty-thousand if we can't slow it down or redirect it right now!”

Signas was about to speak, but X cut across them all.

“Send me to the Lagoon!”

They stared at him for a beat.

“X,” Zero started, “you're benched for disobeying orders and refusing to share intel. It's a miracle you're not in the stocks!”

X snapped his hand out through the viewing windows. “And I'm the only Reploid on the planet that can keep that thing in the air long enough for an evac!”

Alia quickly added, “If we can get the kinetic pylons system back online, it should catch the Lagoon, but we need at least a few minutes!”

There was a tense silence for a precious few seconds, Signas and Zero glancing at each other.

Zero finally twisted, “I'll clear the central danger zone. X, you better pull this one off!”

Signas nodded. “Go, X.”

X twisted, bolting out with full thruster-blasts, while Alia was already prepping the teleportation array.

“And if X does slow it down, I want teams on those pylons immediately!”

“Yes, sir!” Dex and Alia chimed with the rest of the operators.

* * *

A blue warp of light slammed down into the already falling Sky Lagoon. The moment X formed, dashing out of it, his sensors caught problems all around him. The Lagoon was building speed downward, but also armed mechaniloids were everywhere, and something massive was swiping down at him already.

X flickered forward at full speed, hand-flipping to look back at the massive claw that erased the concrete path he'd landed on himself.

With pistol-wielding humanoid mechaniloids pelting X's position with fire already, he had to burst away from the massive monstrocity trying to crush him. The giant mechaniloid resembled a dragon for the most part, with a wolfish head, bladed wings, huge claws on all four limbs, and a bulbous, linked tail, but it was still arranged in a humanoid fashion.

“Magma Dragoon, do you copy!?” X shouted into his comms as he ripped toward the center of the floating city.

With only static replying, X grimaced as he arced around several different mechaniloids, and then powered himself into a high leap over a construction vehicle that was trying to ram into him.

The dragon reappeared just over him, swiping with one arm in a violent arc. X had to twist his inertia mid-air, and barely sailed his front over the side of the attack without losing a limb.

Never stopping, X landed into a boosted charge, only to see barricades snapped up along the walkway routes, trying to seal them into sections.

X's eyes sharpened. _There's no way that system delayed this much on a glitch. This is an attack, not an accident._

With energy pouring into his frame, X twisted around while roaring. One arm unleashed a strange blob of orange-pink plasma that pulsed forward with him. The second arm swiped around, unleashing into the blob, and causing a catastrophic, yet focused explosion.

Plasma fire and raw forced erupted forward, dwarfing X himself, and tore through nearly a dozen barricades before even starting to fade. It only stopped at the reinforced bulkhead trying to 'protect' the command structure.

The glowing remains of that bulkhead were dripping down around X as he flew through it.

On the descending path to the control system and power core, several mechaniloids had clustered in formation, pistols already firing.

X corkscrewed through the initial volley, his colors snapping to earthy tones. When he fired his buster out to his side, fine strands glinted... and then wreckage flew out of the bulkhead on the same side of him, following his wrenching motion toward the mechaniloids.

The entire formation was pulverized from one side to the other, X letting the boulder of wreckage tumble to the far side as he leapt across, and shoulder-rammed through the security door that had already broken loose.

Inside was exactly what one would expect for this kind of disaster. It was red with alerts and overheating coils. The control consoles to one side were long abandoned by fleeing crew, and the power system taking up the other was all but melting from its own overheating.

Magma Dragoon was right there, just turning from the power system himself. X was right there, but his eyes tightened at the strange... pleasure in Dragoon's yellow optics.

Just as fast, the look was replaced with grim acceptance. “I'm afraid it's no good, X. It's coming down. I'm getting out of here, and I suggest you do the same.”

X clenched his fists. “How did all five safety systems fail! Including the ones not even ON the Lagoon!?”

Dragoon shrugged. “Something we have to investigate after cleaning up this disaster.”

And without further word, he teleported out.

//X! Are you coming out, too!?// Alia instantly added.

X's body clenched like his fists, his entire frame tightening with an overpowering rage at the situation. He'd failed. Again. He'd designed half of those failsafes. The government, the council, had only wanted a few. For all of them to fail...

His eyes snapped to the power core itself. He'd known it would come to this. //No. I'm sorry.//

//...X?//

He leapt up, firing two plasma saws. The pressure of their impacts released so violently that the front of the power core blew itself off, nearly blowing a hole clear out of the Lagoon. X thruster-blasted himself against the unleashing, and then leapt INTO the power core.

His shielding and armor instantly hit critical and started to shear from thermal shock, but he snapped his arms out, gripping into the conduction tubes that the power core had used. With a building roar against the pain and strain, X's sytem sucked in every ounce of power they could through his frame, while adapting and directing it out into the Lagoon itself.

His body quaked, armor buckled, his optics began to glow from the inside, and his head-gem began to flare with dangerous light.

With a creaking shudder throughout the massive Lagoon complex, the antigravity systems on the underside suddenly burst, then sputtered, and then exploded into life. It was weaker, not enough to end the threat, but the Lagoon nearly halted mid-air, slowing it's fall at a critically important moment.

X, still a storm of power trying to tear itself apart, finally replied to Alia internally, //Only... have... a few minutes...//

* * *

Crush Crawfish leapt skyward, just over the edge of a skyscraper-tower's roof. Airstrike rushed down and slammed to a landing near him, with Inferno and Shimmer leaping into view just a beat later.

“Unit 14 on-site!” Airstrike comm'd instantly, while Inferno thundered steps over to the strange destruction in the center of the roof.

Some kind of pylon device had been there. Now it was shattered and broken across the roof... amidst torn and rent robotic bodies.

Shimmer went to one of the bodies, while Crush joined Inferno, his brow knitting between whips of his huge whiskers.

“Why did this attack not set off any alerts?”

Inferno frowned as he looked it over himself. With the Sky Lagoon still grinding down through the air barely half a mile to their side, he was trying to assess the wreckage quickly, but he saw so little hope.

Airstrike flew up, looking down from above at the whole mess, then dropped back down, shaking his head.

“No signs of a fight, just a massacre. What even are these victims?”

Shimmer looked up grimly. “Not Reploids, but for some reason, they're using Repliforce colors...”

Airstrike's face slackened for a corepulse, then he twisted, activating the X-Hunter line. //Signas! Someone's implicating Repliforce for this! We need information control at the other pylon sites!//

Signas's response was eerily calm. //Too late.//

* * *

“We've got Repliforce wreckage at the kinetic-net pylons!”

“They're not Reploids! We can't be sure of origin!”

“That sounds bad.”

Alia shivered with frustration at the comm chatter, her face winding up like a vice.

“Mission critical chatter only! We have a city-scale crash happening as we speak, and people are going to die if you don't get them out of the strike zone!”

Signas, Dex, and several others glanced her way in the command center, but everyone simply refocused on the disaster at hand.

* * *

With the massive hover-complex looming so deadly close above, the ground level of the city was a thruster-lit nightmare of fear and scrambling. Unit 32 was on the East section of the strike zone, with Quickman flickering to doors with loud bangs, while Barrel and Tunnel Rhino shouted with enhanced voices for people to evacuate with them outside of the threatened area. What few chunks of wreckage were already present, Gravity Beetle either floated aside with his weapons, or the two diggers shore apart.

Unit 61 was South. Tripwire shot his coils up to high floors, letting people slide down if they were physically able enough for it. Cadis was using her rifle in a modified format, firing off plasma-lights into the road to show a clear path even through dust and steam drifts, then waving people along herself. Spikesaw and Snapvice banged on doors and cleared any wreckage that started to narrow down the evac route.

Still South, but further along, Unit 76 took advantage of Turbo and Pyrostrike's speed to appropriately urge people into running, while Blast Squirrel remained high and helped direct people the best directions out of the strike-zone. Acid Seahorse cleared wreckage with huge acid sprays... that he then neutralized with his own counter-agent sprays, keeping the path safe for humans and noncombat Reploids.

To the West, Unit 27 took advantage of their unique traits. A mixture of Blast Hornet's swarms and Warp Turtle's slow-fields allowed people to flee from high floors, and slide or step down toward ground level directly, with any trips safely lowered down by the slow-field. Once several people used it, and some saw how the falls were safe, people flooded down onto the main avenue. Mapteron and Neon Tiger blasted and clawed wreckage apart and out of the way while directing everyone along.

* * *

Zero turned from directing a wave of fleeing civilians to the best path out to the North, his ponytail flailing in the violent wind created by the too-low floating complex. For a rare moment, his face was etched with a kind of grief. _There's no way we can get them all out..._

Screams and a crash snapped his focus West of his position. A dustcloud was billowing out from a building that apparently couldn't handle the thrust-wind from the Sky Lagoon.

Ripping to full speed, Zero all but flew toward the area. A handful of people were helping free others from rubble, so Zero focused on quickly slashing apart any larger rocks stopping escape, while scaling the collapse wreckage to see how many got cut off.

Some relief creeped into his tension. Only a handful of people were stuck on the other side of the crash. He gestured and shouted with an empowered voice, “Cut around to your right! That building is stable! Keep heading North once you get around!”

He repeated the directions several times as he hopped, ran, and dashed down to see if anyone had gotten pinned.

“She's stuck! Please help!”

Zero twisted to see a human desperately waving at him from just behind a few abandoned cars. With a quick leap and run, he was there, but even he had to stop short for a beat.

“Iris!?”

She was pinned by a leg under one of the larger chunks of the collapsed building, and despite pain, she smiled a bit anxiously at him. “Z-Zero...”

Zero rattled his head to refocus. To the human, he touched their shoulders. “I've got her! Go, go! There's no time!”

As the human ran exactly as desperately as they should, Zero ran closer to Iris.

“I didn't even recognize your neighborhood in all this insanity,” he muttered, even wondering himself why he bothered as his Z-saber tore the wreckage pinning her to small pieces.

Iris eased forward, but gave a soft yelp as Zero actually picked her up in his arms.

“Can you disable your pain receptors in the leg? It needs medical.”

Iris' blush was visible despite the dust covering most of her. “A-already did, but I took a few knocks before it pinned me, and I didn't want to lose consciousness.”

Zero nodded, and started to run up the hill of rubble.

“W-wait, Zero, that building didn't collapse on its own!”

Zero kept running anyway. “What happened?”

“A large machine. I couldn't get a good view, but it was airborne. I think it was trying to cut us off, so I warned the people to run faster. I hope most of them made it...”

“They did! I'll hunt for the machine, but it's not safe here for anyone!”

Iris blinked, and then horror started to spread over her face. “They can't stop it...” It wasn't a question.

Zero shook his head as he ran along the street to the North. “X is the only reason it hasn't already crashed down.”

Iris' eyes widened, and she looked up to the deadly, descending mass. “He's... oh Light...”

Zero didn't have much he could offer back to that pained realization. As much as he didn't want to show it, X's capacity to sacrifice himself had Zero worried, too.

Zero suddenly skidded to a halt as his optics locked on someone approaching at thruster speed. Iris looked from the Lagoon to see what had stopped Zero, and her expression slackened in gentle shock afresh.

Colonel skidded to a halt himself. Straightening, he was a more formidable frame than before, with modifications from joining Repliforce, and his rank increasing rapidly after. He was every inch the imposing military commander now.

Zero managed, “Colonel, is Repliforce active here?”

Colonel raised an eyebrow. “What? Not at all. I'm here to find my sister.” He looked to her that moment, nodding softly. It was clear he was having mixed feelings about her being literally in Zero's arms, but the situation kept those concerns quiet.

Zero sagged slightly. “Finally, some good news. Please, power down your weapons, and come with me while we get out of here!”

Colonel frowned sharply, and Iris winced.

“Zero, that's not...” Iris trailed.

“A soldier never puts down his weapon, Zero. What cause do the Hunters have to demand something so absurd?”

Zero jerked. He had to stop a snapflare of rage, and it showed on his face. More calmly, he explained, “Colonel, there's intel I can't share yet, but I'm trying to help you get ahead of a problem. Please, power down your weapons, and come with us out of the crash zone!”

Colonel tilted his head down. “Hand over my sister, or share the intel between old comrades, Zero.”

Iris held a hand to her face, frustration broiling beneath her ashamed expression.

Zero shivered. “Colonel, I can't do that, and you know it! If the situation was reversed--!?”

“You'd refuse just as I have.”

Zero started to snap something back, but it died in his throat. His head lowered, and he started to say something else.

He never got to finish it, as the building to his left suddenly blew apart. Zero curled to protect Iris while dashing hard out of the explosion path, Colonel flickering along similarly.

The dragon mechaniloid was there, crunching wreckage under its taloned feet. The huge wings snapped wider, pulsing the air, and its maw started to glow as it focused down on the trio of Reploids.

Zero growled, and then looked to Iris. “You want to go with your brother?”

Iris blinked at him, then smiled softly, and nodded. “Thank you.”

Zero offered her so she didn't have to stand on her hurt leg. Colonel took her, still grim, but not fighting the decision.

Zero drew his saber, stepping toward the mechaniloid. “Go. There's no time left, and I don't think X can last much longer.”

Colonel hesitated a beat, then burst away with Iris, who looked back to Zero anxiously.

Zero wasted no further time himself. With a thruster-blast and hard leap, he was in the air near the dragon's maw nigh-instantly. A Z-saber cross-cut destabilized the plasma orb between the jaws, forcing it to fizzle out.

The dragon wasn't complex enough to be frustrated. The moment its own systems recognized the misfire, it snapped a huge arm and claw in at Zero with surprising speed for its sheer size.

Zero hadn't even had time to drop yet, but his reactions were always ready. He pressed a hand into the top of the swiping claw, tightly coiled over it, and wrenched his blade down the wrist as he boosted down to the ground.

The dragon twisted with its own momentum, the arm sparking and gushing hydraulic fluid from the wrist. With large optics snapping to track Zero, the giant mechaniloid snapped its tail down at Zero, who flickered back from the shattering crater it made.

With the giant finally recovering enough to swipe down at Zero with its undamaged arm, Zero charged, ponytail lashing. He slashed into one leg, rebounded up, stabbed the opposite thigh, and wrenched the blade free with another full-body leap up and away. This let him slash the lower torso, leaving a glowing hot scar before he neatly arced down into a crouch behind the behemoth.

Now the dragon showed signs of urgency. Its wings slapped down, lifting it high in a moment as Zero braced against the wind-shock. Glaring over his arm, Zero watched the giant twist and dive down to strafe his position with all claws and the tail at once.

Zero twirled his blade into grip, and braced into a strange, leaned stance. “Get ready!” he 'warned' his adversary, all of his systems primed for his next strike.

Just as the dragon would tear through his position, Zero all but exploded to one side, flip-coiling up and thruster-blasting himself around the dragon's huge frame, leaving him floating almost peacefully over it's center back, coiled and ready to stab down.

With a building grunt, Zero re-aimed his boot-thrusters, and slammed down into the mechaniloids spine, saber-first. Buried to the hilt, his weapon seared away core systems, and the dragon quickly went limp mid-air, plowing into the street and grinding through the rubble for several meters.

Zero drew his sword out with a hissing grind of molten metal layers, only to tense abruptly. He heard a power building whine.

“Damn!”

He ripped away, flickering to a crouch on some rubble several meters away.

The dragon's body burst apart with rippling explosions the next second, sending shrapnel and chunks of armor crashing through the buildings around it.

Zero watched darkly as the buildings affected began to crumble.

That was when another sound made him twist with alarm. The Sky Lagoon. Its thrusters cut out, and it dropped sharply before the thrusters could flare back on... barely.

Zero touched his ear. “Command, do we have status on X!?”

* * *

“He's not responding, and his vitals are all over the place!” Dex responded sharply, and then twisted to look back to Signas, “Commander, there are still over three-thousand residents in the strike zone, and I don't think X can hold!”

Alia was clearly restraining emotions as she quickly blitzed through different read-outs and data streams. “His vitals are all over the place because the sensors can't actually understand what they're being told!”

Signas pressed his lips into a firm line. “How far did the Sky Lagoon drop with that recent outage?”

“It lost 30% of its remaining altitude at once, sir!” Dex offered.

“And the council emergency forces?”

Alia looked up at the orange-ish hue near the strike-zone. “The ones that'll arrive in time are already on the ground, sir.”

Signas thumped the holotable hard enough that it creaked. “...All units, full emergency evacuation. I repeat, full emergency evacuation. We have no estimate on the Lagoon's air time, and it's coming down hard!”

Alia twisted fully to stare at him in restrained horror, but the grim, sad stare from him prevented her outburst.

Dex was halted for a beat, and finally just breathed, “We saved all we could...”

* * *

Across the edges of the strike-zone, Maverick Hunters suddenly shifted to grabbing as many humans as they could, and then bolted for the safer areas outside. Colonel heard the call for emergency evacuation like any citizen, and turned, letting Iris down gently. Iris held a hand to her mouth as she watched. She knew how many people couldn't possibly get out in time.

“There'll be blood for this,” her brother muttered.

Airstrike was fast enough with flight to get a few more groups of people out, Inferno carrying a couple of families on his huge frame, while Shimmer and Crush Crawfish ran escort for a group of humans barely able to run.

Deepfreeze and Blizzard Buffalo created an iceslick, while Overload and Volt Catfish created a kind of static-charge field that naturally slowed anything on the ice near the end. They were able to get a few dozen more out safely.

Quickman flickered in and out, mostly with children, while Barrel, Gravity Beetle, and Tunnel Rhino carried the families as quickly as they could.

With Cadis, Spikesaw, and Snapvice watching for any unstable collapses, Tripwire turned himself into a swing from a high point of one building, letting his coils hold as many people as could grip tight, and swinging them smoothly over near the safe-zone. Those that couldn't hold on enough were quickly rounded up by Spikesaw and Snapvice, with Cadis keeping people moving at the rear.

Turbo was doing similar patterns to Quickman, while Acid Seahorse took on the wreckage clearing job fully, letting Pyrostrike and Blast Squirrel focus on carrying as many people as they could.

Mapteron and Warp Turtle combined their tech to create a make-shift hover platform, which they guided along smoothly with a few dozen people on it, while Neon Tiger and Blast Hornet ran interference for any wreckage trying to tumble into the way.

* * *

The heart of the Sky Lagoon was like a star brightening just before its explosive demise. X's body was glowing through every gap of plating, even his optics blazing like laser-drills as he trembled with the effort of just staying connected as every system he had screamed about the overload. His helmet gem pulsated as if it was panicked in and of itself, with steam rising out of his mouth and any vents along his frame.

He knew it was his limit. He also knew how many people were going to die if he couldn't keep this thing in the air. Were the others able to turn on the kinetic field with the pylons? He couldn't even afford the spare processing for comms. All he knew for sure was the massive, floating town was ready to drop like a stone the moment he caved to his body's screams for relief.

His mind was frayed and scattered, so hopelessly focused he was on his frame and power conduction. Why had Dragoon abandoned so easily? How did all of the fail-safes fail? No single person should have even known how to disable all of them.

“ _It's just a civilian, high-class residential area, X, why are you...?”_

“ _It's a giant hunk of metal floating over a population center. It only has two levels of fail-safe.”_

“ _It has passed every inspection, Maverick Hunter X. You've caused enough trouble, haven't you?”_

“ _...Then I'll fix it myself.”_

He'd added the other layers himself. Favors from Alia and Signas got them through, but he'd designed them, made sure that no matter what happened, it would never hit the city itself. And yet...

Maybe he should fall with the Lagoon. Who was he saving, or even helping? Had he actually stopped, or even slowed, the virus' efforts?

And the blood on his hands. That was still so crystal clear. The woman he couldn't help, dying in his arms. Zero blowing himself up. Cadis' entire life falling apart, thinking herself a Maverick until he showed up out of nowhere.

His body was done. X's head pitched back as he tried to send as much power through as he could, even while feeling his body shut down around him. “...Alia...” whispered past his lips, before his body went dark... and fell with the Lagoon.

* * *

It was strangely quiet, when it finally happened. The Sky Lagoon slammed down, almost immediately vanishing into a dust cloud. The tremble of the strike passed through those watching about at the same time as the horror and grief.

All of the Maverick Hunters on the ground stared, some in simple shock, others in horror. People and noncombat Reploids started to cry, scream, or collapse.

In Maverick Hunter HQ, the command center went silent for the first time since the alert sounded. Even as the Lagoon was falling, however, Alia switched to desperately trying to reach X.

“X! ...X, do you read!? ...X!?” she screamed the last call into the comm speaker, startling everyone enough to stare at her, then instantly turn sorrowful.

Signas started to speak, but Alia suddenly bolted to her feet, charging for the exit.

“Alia, wait!”

Alia twisted at the door, a furious focus to her eyes. “I'm finding him!”

Signas pinched the bridge of his nose, then turned back to everyone else. “Notify med-techs of the dust hazards for survivors. And get construction crews on site. We... have to start unburying this... massacre.”

* * *

X somehow saw a narrow beam of light. It struck him as strange, but his mind was barely conscious. The tunnel of collapsed metal and rock beyond his one hand seemed almost surreal to his strained systems. A dull sound passed through him, and he grunted faintly.

Another. A distant shout. His name.

He was so tired. Just the effort of speaking seemed insurmountable. How could someone find him, again? ...Beacon. Yes, that sounded right. His activated, barely, the next moment.

Alia jerked where she stood on the rubble, already covered in dust herself. X's beacon had just gone off! She leapt across a gap, and started wrenching and digging through rubble toward the beacon signal. “X! I'm coming! We'll get you out of here!”

One rock was too large. She didn't even blink before her arm reconfigured and she blew chunks of it away.

And there, just barely out of the shadows below, she saw X's fingers.

As she dove down, tears in her eyes, trying to comfort him, X just looked up at the angelic shape in the light, reaching to grip his hand.

It was a comfort, but he didn't deserve that.


	3. Liberty and Security

Alia sealed the repair pod over X's scorched, battered form, and just lingered there, as if it was holding her up from collapsing. Her hanging head lifted from a gentle touch of her shoulder, and she focused with fading surprise on Signas.

“How are you?”

Alia showed a soft, but dismal expression, and pulled herself back from X's pod to face Signas properly. Her eyes still had a sheen to them. “Awful, but X is... he's never been damaged this severely. It'll be days at least.”

Signas actually looked to the pod himself, serious, but sad as well. “Well... he was due to skip a couple of sparring sessions with me, anyway.”

It let them share a weak laugh.

Alia cycled her respirator. “Where do you want me focused first, sir?”

Signas drew his eyes back to her. “Damage control.”

She was only mildly confused.

Signas explained, “The only evidence we have so far is the mechaniloid Zero took out, and destroyed bodies with Repliforce colors. Magma Dragoon is AWOL. If we don't get on top of the intel immediately, this is going to turn into the worst disaster we've ever seen.”

Alia's eyes widened. “Dragoon is AWOL? This looks like...”

Signas nodded. “And with the Cain-Anti-Virus failsafes installed in the entire Repliforce, we need to make sure no one has a reason to pull that trigger.”

Alia saluted, and started to bolt out of the medical bay.

Signas looked to X's pod again. “...I wish I thought you'd realize how many lives you saved instead the ones we lost.” He exhaled, and then touched his audioreceptor. “Dr. Cain, sorry to bother you after retiring, but I'm trying to avoid an even bigger disaster.”

In his own lab, Dr. Cain slowly pulled his glasses off. “Worse than this morning?”

It was such a simple, grim word that replied. “Much.”

* * *

“This demands immediate response!”

“We have almost no information yet!”

“Damn the investigation, we just lost thousands of civilians to a terrorist attack inside one of our largest cities!”

“Then let's be candid, yes? This council is actually deciding whether or not to trigger a kill-switch on the largest, strongest military force we've ever created.”

The doors of the council room burst open around Dr. Cain, who could move with surprising power for a cane and his old frame. “I did not create that anti-virus so you could commit genocide!” he bellowed across the chamber before anyone could shout to silence him.

The result was a sour silence other than his cane thumping off the floor. He only stopped near the council dais, settling his hands on his cane, staring back at anyone trying to glare him down.

Councilor Teagan finally leaned onto an elbow to speak up. “You have no authority over how the CAV is used, Dr. Cain. We installed it into the Repliforce candidates to make sure we had an instantaneous solution if they ever went rogue, and this morning's attack is screaming for justice!”

Dr. Cain rammed his cane down firmly before retorting, “You are screaming for blood, like any brute struck without a clear enemy! You MUST wait for the full investigation, or you will be confirming, to every Reploid on the planet, that they are not actually alive according to this council! You won't have to worry about Mavericks at that point, because you'll have a civil-war on your hands!”

“Those Reploids agreed to the CAV installation to join Repliforce in the first place!”

“Do you REALLY think the Reploids in the homes across this world are going to suffer that distinction for you!?”

That shout rang through the chamber, all the more so for the silence it left in its wake.

After letting it sink through the air further, Dr. Cain spoke more softly.

“This could have been unrelated terrorists, humans, a small group of Mavericks, maybe even a single rogue Repliforce unit. If you try to kill the entire Repliforce based on threadbare proof, you are tipping a scale you can't balance again.”

Another councilor leaned forward, a grim woman, with eyes hardened by the situation. “Dr. Cain, can you explain, then, why the Repliforce has refused the orders to stand down and disarm?”

Dr. Cain twitched, his frame sinking slowly as his eyes drifted shut. “...So you're going to use their prideful disobedience as an excuse to wipe them out.” It wasn't a question.

“Now is not the time for pride,” another councilor returned firmly.

Dr. Cain straightened, and lifted his cane to point at them. “I warned you. This blood is going to be on your heads. God help us all.” He turned, and started to limp out toward the doors.

He opened his private comms while he did. “Signas, this is going loud. I can't stop them.”

“...Understood. I'll get the operations staff to start gathering what they can.”

“Signas?”

“...Yes, Doctor?”

“Did... did your friends get out ahead of this atrocity?”

“...This one, yes. Not the one that's following it.”

* * *

General stood with his back to his own office, staring up at a work of art. It was a portrait of an old, human military leader. He'd been told his personality drive was modeled as much after the man as it could be. He suspected that wasn't very successful.

The door opening caused his head to shift subtly, but not turn.

“General, sir, our operations units indicate the council had made a decision, and is moving forward with it, but we are not sure what that decision is yet.”

It was Colonel, standing rigidly, with a fierce focus in his eyes.

“I've crossed my rubicon, Colonel,” General replied quietly. “In deciding to stand firm, I may well have murdered every soldier under my command.”

Colonel lifted his head further. “If so, sir, it has been an honor. We have justification for our pride, and have never acted out of line otherwise. If we did not stand firm here, what self-respect could we claim to have?”

General finally turned to face his subordinate. “I find myself wondering if honor has meaning to the dead, Colonel. Yet, it doesn't matter. The decision made, my fate... sealed.” He looked down distantly, his uniquely armored jaw flexing.

“The decision not to admit guilt is one I stand by, sir,” Colonel replied, remaining at rigid attention.

General closed one fist, and looked down at it. “Is it so simple for you, Colonel?”

“Always, sir.”

General chuckled weakly.

Then something hit them both. General gripped his head, groaning, and Colonel actually stumbled to one knee, holding a hand to his core.

But then, just as quickly, it passed.

Colonel caught his breath, looking up. “Sir, operations was hit by it, too, I don't know what--!?”

“I do.”

General straightened, his expression dark as a night sky.

“...They triggered the killswitch,” Colonel finally realized aloud, looking down, caught between shock and fury. “Yet we live?”

General moved to his desk, clicking through several documents he'd already prepared, it seemed. “Thanks to a secretive ally from several months ago. I was given a countermeasure for the CAV triggers. I'd hesitated, but only briefly. I also, however, couldn't be certain their countermeasure would work. Now we know.”

Colonel straightened back up. “A true ally then. Orders, sir?”

“A contingency plan I had to draw up when I decided to cross this line. Order all quarters to close rank, seal borders, and prepare for mass evacuation to the orbital defense platform.”

Colonel immediately twisted, relaying the orders as he moved for the door. There, he paused, looking back to his commander. “We are simply leaving, sir?”

“We're going home. I will host a public declaration later today. And remind all forces that they are not to engage opposition unless fired upon first. We are leaving, not conquering.”

* * *

Zero jogged to the reception desk of Maverick Hunter HQ, confused, but also relieved to see Iris waiting for him there. He knew something was wrong—her expression shouted that across the room—but when she suddenly lunged into hugging him, he knew it was worse. He was returning the embrace before he really thought about it, and leaned his head over hers.

“What's wrong?”

“...S-something terrible is about to happen. I tried to convince my brother not to, but he... he won't listen.”

Zero closed his eyes, then glanced around, keenly aware of how people were listening, a few staring. “Let's get somewhere more private, hm?”

Iris leaned back up to look into his eyes. “Repliforce is going to declare independence. Publicly.”

Zero's eyes widened at her quiet explanation.

Iris nodded sorrowfully.

Zero twisted, but held her hand. “Come on, we have to tell Signas!”

Iris immediately flipped to blushing confusion as she stumbled along after him. “I-I don't have clearance anymore!”

“Damn the clearance, they can take it up with me!”

* * *

Signas wiped a hand down his face, while Alia was already running to her station to pull up data she knew they would need. Dex was flabbergasted enough to just be frozen for the moment.

“...I don't mean to be insulting, but... you're sure, Iris?” Signas finally asked.

Zero did give him a look for it, but Iris just shook her head. “No insult, sir, but I am sure. Colonel was trying to convince me to go along. They're going to secure their holdings, and retreat to the weapons platform in orbit. They want to... create a Reploid nation...”

Zero pinched the bridge of his nose. “Is this really in response to the council being suspicious of them?”

Iris blanched, glancing among all of them. “Wait... no one else knows?”

Alia stopped, twisting to focus on her with the others.

“Knows what?”

Iris held a hand to her mouth. “...The Council triggered the killswitch, but it didn't work! It failed!”

Zero paled, struck silent for one of the only times in his life.

Signas' eyes widened, but he twisted to Alia, while giving Dex a firm, but careful shoulder yank to face him toward his station. “Get civilians away from every Repliforce holding, sound full alert, and I want tactical plans for having to engage the entire Repliforce, but make it clear we are NOT attacking anyone yet! There's no maverick here!”

Alia nodded sharply, twisting back to her work as her response, while Dex took a moment, but was quickly doing the same.

Signas was already starting to organize units and logistics for a full compaign, while Zero finally recovered enough to turn to Iris.

“So they're just acting in self defense.”

Iris nodded. “I know it was foolish, but with the council literally trying to kill him, I didn't have enough grounds to convince him!”

Zero shook his head. “Would anyone be convinced not to protect themselves after that?” He paused, and looked back to Signas. “Commander, I have a frank question.”

Signas paused to give Zero an impatient but attentive look.

“Did X and his friends undermine the killswitch?”

Iris widened her eyes, glancing between the two. Signas squinted, clearly estimating his response. At length, he offered a quiet, but important, “Yes.”

Iris pressed a hand to her chest. “So... the same reason X was pulled off active duty, is the only reason my brother is alive?”

Zero nodded. “No wonder he plays his cards close to his chest.” To Signas, he added, “Permission to reinstate Iris' clearance, sir?”

Signas blinked, and looked to an equally shocked Iris.

Zero explained to her, “You have the best chance possible of stopping a tragedy from inside the Hunters. With the council already out for blood, this is going to go straight to the redline.”

Iris slowly nodded. “C-can I just do my job this time?”

Zero nodded. “I think X just earned a little trust. Signas?”

Signas nodded, and tapped a few keys. “Your console is waiting for you, Operator.”

Iris flashed a smile, and ran to it, while Zero bolted toward the exit.

“I'm going to make sure our new recruits aren't going to be trigger happy!”

“Understood,” Signas returned, and then looked back down into an ever-growing map of Repliforce's area of control. “...This is what panic does...”

* * *

It was only a matter of hours before the hammer came down. The Council declared a public emergency, and stated that Repliforce had gone Maverick. They even cited the CAV-fail-safe failing as a cause for their declaration.

The Maverick Hunters, under Signas' directions, were skirting the orders as much as they could. Instead of immediately engaging Repliforce forces and holdings, they focused on civilian evacuations. With the Council's declaration, it didn't take as much convincing as it usually would have.

Tension mounted as Repliforce started to seal and lockdown it's areas of control. By the afternoon of the day, Repliforce had isolated its own population from the rest of society. Signas kept 'monitoring teams' near the Repliforce perimeters, most of which were the ones loyal to X. As the Council tried to order him to start sending in sabotage strikes, Signas bought time with explaining that more intel was required before deploying actively.

Meanwhile, within Repliforce's domains, a signal was broadcast. It wasn't secured, so most of the planet was able to watch it, too. The General's face appeared, with occasional camera views showing him speaking to a formal crowd of Repliforce soldiers.

“Brave soldiers of Repliforce!” he called proudly before his face fell grim and focused, “We have all been wrongfully judged as Mavericks by the humans.”

Signas grimaced. “Going down species lines is not going to help...”

General continued, “We cannot suffer this indignity, and live in disgrace.” His fist lifted and clenched, “We will build our _own_ nation of Reploids!”

Zero was near Iris' station, and clenched one fist while she just wilted with worry.

“But,” General started, “remember, this is neither about insurrection, nor rebellion against our human creators. This is about our liberty, and security.”

Signas nodded subtly, shifting his jaw a bit. Alia was still processing data and tactical readouts, but side-glanced the broadcast regularly. Dex was fully watching, his arms folded, his mind clicking away at what he could offer to help avoid a tragedy.

General did not mince words, “We must battle for our _own_ individual rights, and our _own_ survival! Together we will build our nation! A sanctuary for all Reploids! Our own utopia! Let us forge onward towards a new golden era for the Repliforce!” His fists lifted with triumph to match his tone.

The cameras shifted as none other than Colonel stepped forward below the General's dais.

Iris held a hand to her mouth, her eyes watering.

“I, too, share the General's sentiment. Take heed, we have no other choice. Let us fight valiantly, with courage and pride. Without fear, for we are the Repliforce. The most POWERFUL ARMY IN HISTORY!” Colonel bellowed powerfully, and the entire formation before them burst into cheers, hands high.

Zero reached down to touch Iris' shoulder. “...We're going to do everything we can to end this before it... goes too far.”

Iris sobbed with, “It already is too far!”

No one could really offer her solace after that.

* * *

Elsewhere, as the broadcast finished on a holosphere, the hooded stranger cackled as he stood up, this time minus his hood in the overshadowed apartment.

“So the General has finally taken action!”

His voice was satisfied as he moved to the window.

“And now, my Maverick Hunters, what will you do? I'll be watching closely from here on out...” he trailed off in outright maniacal laughter.

* * *

Dr. Cain marched into a smaller briefing room in Maverick Hunter HQ, his cane thumping firmly with his pace. Signas, Alia, Zero, and Iris were all there, apparently waiting for him.

“I was surprised to see my clearance was still recognized,” the old human muttered with some dry humor as he took up position near the holo-table they were clearly prepared to use.

Zero glanced to Signas, who actually just said, “X's idea,” openly.

Everyone blinked at him, but Signas took the chance to drive the conversation forward anyway.

“Thanks to the operator team's always-excellent work,” Alia and Iris blushed a bit, “we can confirm that Repliforce is still playing defensive. The main sources of concern that the council will likely push the hardest to assault are their jungle base, the supply tram that leads from it, and the starport they control. Related to the starport is a flotilla of airships under Storm Owl's command, which is currently running constant patrols between the jungle base, starport, and escorting the supply tram.”

Dr. Cain stroked his beard. “We've verified this much via sensors data, or also scouts?”

Signas looked to Alia and Iris, Zero remaining quietly attentive overall.

“Both,” Alia started. “The more sensitive data they've gathered we're hoping to... believably delay so the council doesn't yank our leash too hard.”

Iris continued, “From reports Colonel gave me before, and the scout information, it appears that Web Spider remains in command of the jungle compound so far. My brother himself is usually in command of the starport,” she faltered subtly, but pushed on. “The supply tram is being handled by Slash Beast.”

Dr. Cain cringed subtly. “That won't sit any better with X. Slash Beast has been his main success story for the clones.”

Zero raised an eyebrow. “That gets your attention out of everything?”

Dr. Cain shrugged faintly. “X and I have... difficulties, but with events turning as they have, I can't deny his stance proved accurate. And I know the clones he's had to destroy in the past haunt him. Slaves to the infection all the more so compared to the actual Mavericks.”

Zero rubbed his chin slowly. “...Like Mac.”

Dr. Cain nodded.

Alia groaned, “And we've only just finished fully restoring all the systems Mac weakened when Dopplertown went openly hostile, too.”

Zero glanced to her. “Did we confirm the Vile we have in stasis really is the same personality drive and system buffer that went missing?”

Signas nodded. “Just another detail lost in the madness of the Doppler fiasco. How it pales to what's in front of us...”

Everyone focused on the holo-table with that grim reminder, struck silent.

Zero finally asked, “When is X supposed to wake up?”

Alia shook her head. “Not for hours yet.”

Iris lifted a finger, and everyone glanced to her expectantly.

“There are two things that have increased my concern while we put this report together.”

Signas gestured, “Go on?”

“Two areas of control I heard my brother talk about in the past, but I've seen no intel develop for in the last 24 hours.” Iris fidgeted her hands together. “They had a cold base and a harbor base in more heavily secured locations. Obviously, he never revealed the coordinates to me, but with how he discussed them, they wouldn't be small facilities that you'd easily abandon.”

Alia widened her eyes, and quickly looked through more information on her datapad.

Zero and Signas looked over the map more suspiciously, while Dr. Cain frowned.

“I'm afraid my clearance for _them_ was shut down quite efficiently after I retired.”

Signas added, “This isn't necessarily a disaster yet. We can use these extra sites to keep the council stalled for a few days, while we try to gauge their situation.”

Zero leaned onto the table a bit. “I'm concerned the council might push around us.”

Everyone glanced to him.

“How do you mean?” Dr. Cain voiced the question on their minds.

Zero glanced up. “What if they send in black-ops because they suspect we're stalling?”

Alia groaned, and started checking something else. “...Zero, could you stop being right, please?”

Everyone focused on her.

She explained, “It's my job to keep track of unexpected threats, so human military unit responses to Mavericks are something I've always monitored in part, especially after the island facility we had to deal with before Zero came back.” She sent data to the main table, so everyone could see it. “This type of chatter on the military frequencies is usually only present during covert operations, and some ships have been dispatched from their bases with headings that would be... logical for hitting a target in the Arctic range, and one other.”

Dr. Cain dragged a hand down his face. “We need scouts to follow those trajectories.”

“The margin of error is massive,” Iris added gravely. “Anyone we send on those headings could spend weeks looking.”

Signas nodded. “She's right. In this case, I think we have to wait for the hammer to drop, and respond in force.”

Dr. Cain fumed with helpless frustration, “Surely there's something more we can do!?”

Iris shook her head. “We could send people out in blind hope, but I'd be desperately afraid of how badly we'd expose them to harm; not just from Repliforce perimeter forces, but the human military!”

Zero folded his arms. “Exactly. This,” he gestured to the data, “is more blood on the council's hands.” Raising his eyes to Signas, he added, “I suggest we shore up our communication methods, and try to keep tight-beam transmission available in case this powder keg blows up completely before the end of the day.”

Signas nodded, “I agree. Dr. Cain, will you be alright?”

“...I will. Just... distressed. I may be able to help with the tight-beam arrangements.”

Alia straightened. “We'll be glad of the help. Iris?”

“With you, ma'am!”

“Let's get to it!” Signas dismissed them.

* * *

A hulking Reploid stood despite a blizzard ripping across his frame. There were snow-dimmed lights spread out in his view, a cave-like door behind him, but his optics were focused skyward. Larger than even Inferno or Depthcharge, Frost Walrus' fist was the size of a normal Reploid, his legs like small cars crushing snow into ice.

His optics narrowed, and he brushed a hand down his ice-sculpted tusks like a beard. “Not Maverick Hunters then?” He actually sneered, “I look forward to making the humans realize how outmatched they are.”

Touching his ear, he muttered more calmly, “Captain, prepare defenses for assault. The council is swinging their other stick already.”

“Yes, Commander Frost Walrus! All mechaniloids and squads scrambling to combat defense stations!”

“Copy,” Frost Walrus returned almost casually before he marched forward, and then just hopped down into the screaming wind below him.

* * *

Two hover carriers, matte-black for night operations, rushed down to ground level, and let their bay doors slam down. Two squads of tactical-armored soldiers charged out, heavy energy rifles braced in their arms.

“Squad 1, closing on target ingress.”

“Squad 2, breaking to cover positions.”

The one team spread out in pairs to firing positions scattered across the snow, while the other pressed forward.

Just as they reached the heavy metal gate embedded in the rock there, however, flood-lights blazed across the gap both teams were using to approach.

“Exposure, exposure!”

Mechaniloid gunners came running out from both flanks, pistols firing an onslaught at the human teams.

The pulse-rifles from the humans answered, quickly mowing down mechaniloids into glowing, steaming piles of wreckage.

But then ride-armors crashed down, one per side of the field, piloted by Repliforce soldiers. With one arm each spawning plasma blades, they dashed forward, and cleaved through multiple fire-teams of the squads.

“Position compromised! Fall back, fall ba—!?” the soldier's voice died in a choke.

With more mechaniloids flowing in to close the retreat, and the two ride-armors braced and ready, the forward black-ops team braced to return fire.

The door opened on its own, and one of the soldiers twisted, only to keep lifting his gun upward until he could aim at Frost Walrus' darkly pleased expression.

“I'm actually glad the council took the first shot. I didn't want to have to hold back.”

Suddenly, he roared, and smashed one fist down into the ground.

The impact alone was enough to make all the humans lose footing, but immediately afterward, it exploded out with cryonic energy, turning most of the squad into a small chunk of ice.

The last few broke into a run for the ridearmors.

Strangely, the two Repliforce members simply spread to the sides, along with their mechaniloid teams. The human soldiers glanced as they ran, but didn't stop.

Then they heard a snap of powerful hydraulics, and a crashing rush that kept growing louder.

One looked back, only to see Frost Walrus skating along on his belly like a freight train. He slammed into the fleeing soldiers, and kept powering on until he crashed straight into both of their hover-carriers. They bent down, caved inward, and burst open with plumes of fire, sending debris arcing off in dozens of directions.

With the human forces decimated, the two large vehicles reduced to burning wrecks, Frost Walrus calmly marched out of the wreckage, somehow unscathed. He simply dusted off some chunks of metal from his chest.

“Orders, commander?” one of the ride-armor pilots called.

Frost Walrus chuckled. “Return to stations! I knew this would turn into a real fight, and we'll be ready!”

“Yes, sir!”

* * *

Elsewhere, several small troop-transport boats were starting to sink into the waters of a curious, oil-rig-like structure in the middle of the waters. Flames stuck to a few pieces where their fuel tanks had been torn apart.

Two hover-bikes drifted to halts on the water's surface near the rig itself, Repliforce soldiers looking at the carnage with respectful shock.

“Commander Stingray practically did this single-handed...”

The other nodded. “And he wants us on perimeter patrols.”

“What about the maintenance route, though?”

“Mines and anyone going fast enough to trick the sensors would crash into a wall. Couldn't pay me enough to try to race down that.”

The water shifted near them, startling them. A white, yellow, and red head lifted up, with grim optics sharp, and a vented faceplate just opening.

“It's also bait,” his voice rumbled out like a demon through water. “We draw the next invaders in, and crush the few that don't kill themselves. Now get to your routes.”

Both saluted sharply without another word, and twisted about to jet off.

Jet Stingray rotated smoothly in the water, looking out across the night sky. “You're an idealist General, but a good leader otherwise. The rest of us knew this would lead to blood. But yes, let us hold our lines and withdraw to our own home. History will know us as the just.”

He sank beneath the surface, vanishing.


	4. Ultimatums

Alia held her datapad in the crook of one arm, tapping in a data-transfer with her free hand. The pad itself was connected hard-wire to X's medical pod. She exhaled heavily, bowing her head once the transfer was complete.

“I'm so sorry, X, but I know you'd want to know...”

She jerked sharply, gasping despite herself, as the medical pod suddenly popped its seals, and controlled atmosphere mist poured out the sides.

Hands gripped onto the edges like vices, and drew X's frame out of the dark mist in a decidedly ominous way, his eyes locking on Alia with a unique kind of searing, pleading focus.

“How did this happen?”

His voice was low, wheezy.

Alia hurried closer, dropping the datapad aside, and gripped his shoulders. “X! You're not done repairing yet! I'm so sorry! Please, you have to repair. I shared the data because I knew you'd want to wake up ready...” She clearly regretted the decision.

X did seem to become more cogent, only to grow sorrowful, his eyes shutting, his head bowing. One of his hands reached up to grip her arm around him, and he looked up to meet her worried eyes.

“Internals can handle what's left. I've clearly been out of it too long. This is... so much worse than I'd feared.”

Alia shook her head softly. “You deserve to heal, X. We're avoiding direct engagement so far. Only the two human teams I included in that report for you were lost. Repliforce is staying defensive.”

X shifted his hand to touch her cheek, clearly in a strangely vulnerable emotional position himself. Alia blushed softly, silent.

“So many people have already died,” X finally whispered. “...Thank you, Alia, but I have to take action.”

Alia nodded through gentle grief, and eased back, starting to offer him a hand down.

Before X could accept her help, the medbay doors snapped open around Zero. He was clearly agitated, which made both X and Alia pause to stare at him.

“X, you look terrible,” Zero started with dry humor drowning in other emotions he was containing.

“I imagine,” X managed. “What's wr... what's worse?”

Zero flicked his eyebrows, clearly agreeing with X's change of phrase. “The Council is throwing their full weight of command behind summoning _you_ to a secured briefing. Alone.”

X squinted. “At a time like this?”

Alia was too perplexed and frustrated to really utter language.

Zero nodded, his arms folding. “Exactly. Signas can't dodge this one. Do you need more medpod time?”

Alia started to turn to X to try to persuade him, but found herself accepting his arms reaching out to her. Part of her knew she wouldn't convince him, but she was still frustrated with herself for not pushing.

Once on his feet, X patted her shoulders, meeting her eyes with a gentle smile of thanks.

Alia eased finally, gently smiling back. _How does he make me feel better with just a smile?_

Turning toward Zero, X shook his head. “I'm ready. Would rather get this nonsense out of the way.”

Zero tipped his head. “Tele-array is ready. Alia, you want to send him off?”

“Normally, but this time, I think I need to stay on top of tactical data from Repliforce areas.”

With no reason to disagree, they finally dispersed from the medbay.

* * *

X seated himself at a simple desk and chair that was placed before the council dais. It seemed that Council Teagan was now the council chair, likely due to panic from the previous Maverick situations justifying his fast-solution attitude.

“Maverick Hunter X,” Teagan started, unable to stop a faint sneer, “we understand that you broke your duty restriction, and deployed to the Sky Lagoon. It then crashed into the city beneath it, killing over three-thousand people.”

X normally would have felt the sting of accusation more bitterly, but those very deaths had him far beyond his normal range of patience. “That's true,” is all he said.

However, his flat, icy tone made the sneer on Teagan's face falter.

One of the other councilors leaned forward. “Why were you not able to halt the Sky Lagoon from crashing?”

“Because someone manually overrode every fail safe, and put it into overload. I kept the Lagoon afloat as long as I could before my body shut down.”

Teagan chuckled. “You mean to claim that you were able to generate enough power to keep that contraption airborne with just your body?”

“Yes, that is what Dr. Light's body was able to do to buy people time to escape. It wasn't enough. Am I being sent to the stockade, Councilor?” X listed this all off almost casually, but there was a clear edge to his voice, and tension in his jaw.

Teagan was clearly off his rhythm now, but he more grimly pressed forward. “This council is facing a crisis—!?”

“Of its own creation, which I warned you about,” X cut him off flatly.

“You're on thin ice, Maverick Hunter!” Teagan shouted back. “Do you WANT to go back to the stocks?”

“I want you to stop wasting my time while _people_. ARE. _DYING_!”

X's final shout rang through the chamber powerfully, and several council members shared wary glances.

“Just tell him, Teagan,” one of the other councilors groaned out, rubbing her temple.

Teagan frowned, but cleared his throat. “Megaman X, this body is prepared to clear your record, and reinstate you to full active duty, if you agree to resolve the threat that Repliforce represents to humanity.”

X slowly angled his head, his eyes tightening with cold outrage and disbelief. “...You're bribing me to fix your problem, because you know I've handled every Maverick outbreak's core?”

“Do you care about saving lives, or not?” the female councilor returned frankly.

X looked to her, restraining his surges of emotion. “I care about saving the lives of every human and Reploid of this planet, Councilor. That includes the Repliforce that _this body_ falsely accused of threatening human safety, and then tried to murder all of them to stifle their defensive reaction! You then tried to launch black ops missions to take out their covert installations, only to lose all of your soldiers, because the insanely powerful army you built in your paranoia is actually damn good at its job!”

X suddenly rose to his feet, hands planted on his little table. “If you want me to fix your mistake, you need to get the hell out of my way! You want my help? You want my 'results'? Then I need command of the Maverick Hunters! I need the authority to control our response so that we don't turn this into the bloodiest civil war since 19th century America!”

Teagan roared back, “You're maneuvering for a promotion during a crisis!?”

“I'm maneuvering to save the lives YOU tried to end!”

“Do you _want_ to be put in the stocks!?”

X tilted his head, “If you were going to do that, you would have put me in there already. Your bluff has been called. You thought you had the upper hand, and you don't. Now you're effectively begging for the Maverick Hunters fix a mess you created against our advice. I'm just telling you what I need to do so.”

Taegan was about to roar again, but another councilor reached over to grip his arm. He blanched, and that councilor leaned forward.

“Retroactive legitimacy, is it? We put you in charge, and so your disobedience becomes the status quo?”

X shook his head. “I don't need you to lie on my behalf. You want to tell the public that you have the Maverick Hunters on the job? We're doing it my way.”

“And if you fail?”

“Then putting me in the stocks will be the least of either of our problems, councilor.”

The elder woman leaned back, and nodded to Taegan.

Taegan was livid, but as he looked across the other members, they all seemed grimly accepting of the situation.

“I won't stand for this!”

“You've been outvoted, Teagan,” the other woman blandly retorted. “You don't outweigh the entire rest of this body.”

“I can veto this insanity!”

“Again, not against a full majority beyond yourself.” She then leaned forward to look X in the eye. “The motion is granted. We'll need some time to process the bureaucratic side.”

X tipped his head. “Understood, Councilor. My thanks.”

“Dismissed... Commander X.”

* * *

X marched into the command center of HQ to a sudden hush and stares from his allies and others in equal parts. Signas, however, was the first to salute. Dr. Cain seemed grave, but accepting.

Unusually grim, X returned the salute, and then glanced to Zero simply. He was expecting some commentary.

Zero just folded his arms. “Interesting move, X... so what now?”

X nodded to Zero simply, and then moved all the way up to the holotable. Alia was softly worried, but when they shared a glance, it was the first time a small smile formed on X's face. Then he addressed the room.

“This fight never should've started, but it's our job to finish it. Two standing orders. No aggression outside specified operations, and we use nonlethal methods on all actual Repliforce Reploids. Equipment, buildings, those can be replaced, but I want it clear and known that Maverick Hunters did everything to avoid unnecessary deaths.”

Dr. Cain eased a little, his shoulders rising, while Dex twisted to his console to get those broadcast and updated.

X nodded, and went on smoothly, “For now, bolster every scout force. I want at least two units per area, so they can defend themselves properly if they are attacked. I also want scout forces of this size to take station near the black-ops operation sites that happened last night.”

Iris raised her eyebrows. “Sir, you want to expose that we know about those facilities?”

X looked to her evenly, nodding. “Exactly. We want to show we aren't backing down, but we aren't attacking. Yet,” he finished with appropriate gravity.

Zero glanced to Iris with shared concern, and then voiced it, “So you do intend to strike them first?”

“I intend to stop a powerful army from seizing control of a planetary weapon already in orbit. Peaceful methods will be exhausted, but Repliforce's... pride concerns me.”

Dr. Cain frowned, looking down as his grip on his cane tightened.

That seemed to settle, however ominously, over the room. Alia then straightened her back to speak.

“Sir, we also have other problems brewing.”

X tightened his eyes, Signas, Dr. Cain, and Zero newly attentive as well. “Go on?”

“Several networks have seen strangely consistent loss of transfer speed, and this was around the same time we caught traces of Magma Dragoon's signature deep inside an active volcano.”

Iris added, “It's a retired geothermal plant. It became too active about five years ago.”

X pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing softly. “For now... keep an eye on both of these issues. We need most of our resources focused on Repliforce for the time being, but thank you. Don't let me forgot about these issues.”

Alia and Iris both saluted, and then twisted back to their consoles.

Dr. Cain took a breath, starting toward the doors. “I'll see if my old lab is still useful. I might be able to offer operations or equipment support.”

X glanced to him sidelong. “Thank you.”

The tone was what made Dr. Cain pause for a beat. A sincere, soft, low voice. The only human in the room nodded a little, and continued on his way out.

Looking back from Dr. Cain's departure, Zero had to crack a wry expression. “So you're the big boss after all, hm?”

X returned the dry expression. “It just gives me the authority I need to handle things certain ways. Signas?”

“Yes, sir?”

“You will generally still have the run of our operations. I intend to be hands-on with several elements of this... disaster, and our people need to know where reliable orders are coming from.”

“Understood, sir.”

* * *

Alia offered her datapad to X a little later that day. He was still at the holotable with Signas and Zero. As he read it over, he nodded softly.

“So the Repliforce is just trying to move resources to their port holding so far. Consistent with their stated plan. We might be able to pull this back from the brink.”

Zero tilted his head, watching Signas and Alia share some of X's hope. He did not. “Might want to pull off the rosie optic filters, if you're going to be calling the shots, X.”

X's response to that mild jab was cut off by another Reploid hurrying up from the doors to the command center.

He was oddly rotund, mostly yellow and soft brown, with a heavily guarded helmet around an otherwise human-style face.

“My liege, I promised to deliver these to you.”

Everyone blinked at the odd Reploid.

“You can... just call me X,” X replied slowly, offering his hand for the datapad.

“Impossible, my lord! You have command!”

Alia slowly squinted more, Signas and Zero just remaining mildly amused despite the tension of the overall situation. X cleared his throat from social habit, and looked over the data. There he became grim again.

“It doesn't say where this information is sourced from,” he started, looking back to the Reploid. “And your name is?”

“Double, master!” the new Reploid snapped a salute. “I'm a new arrival, as it were. Council Intelligence sent me over as a courier, with instructions to aid the Maverick Hunters in any way possible!”

Zero sank his head slowly. “Council Intelligence...? You worked for the human authorities' intelligence operations branch?”

“Y-yes! Sir! Technically. Kinda of. In the building.”

Signas pinched the bridge of his nose. “What did you do to get relocated, Double?”

“One or two... unfortunate accidents. Involving munitions.”

Alia twitched.

X, however, remained dead serious as he offered the datapad back to Alia along with her own. On the X-Hunter line, he privately added, //Verify this, and Double here. Either Taegan is up to something, or this is something worse.//

Alia took the datapads, and twisted away as if she was just avoiding Double. //Copy, on it.//

X went on for Double, “Were there any casualties?”

“OH! No, no, majordomo! Only... ah... property damage. Affecting... a few floors.”

“Double.”

“Yes, sir!”

“If I ever see you near munitions inside this HQ, you'll be dismissed from duty. Is that much understood?”

“Y-yes, my lord!”

“Also, call me X.”

“Of course, Commander X!”

“...Please check in with our technician teams on sublevel four. They may need a... courier.”

“Thank you, sir!”

Double saluted again, and dashed off, waddling into a turn at the door, and then out of sight.

Zero opened his mouth, then closed it, then looked to X. “That was... weird for everyone, right?”

Even Dex and Iris added to the chorus of, “Light's labcoat, yes.”

* * *

X was standing with Signas in one of the deployment bays for HQ's squad-carriers, receiving a report from the team captains on deployment readiness. So far, it had been assumed that Repliforce would deploy teleportation jamming if hostilities erupted outright.

Alia and Dex came jogging up from behind, causing X and Signas to turn to them expectantly.

“We have several problems!” Alia started, a bit breathless.

Dex quickly added, “Network interference has spiked across the board. All intel lines are lagged severely, some completely cut off.”

Alia went on, “On top of that, local authorities are trying to handle a sudden rush of missing person's cases, but the intel Double forwarded to us confirms there's something active in an old biolab structure nearby. If it's a bioweapon in development and being tested, that could escalate out of control very quickly.”

Dex continued, X and Signas' eyes growing wider as the team captains opted to scurry off to their work, “The old geothermal plant we suspect Magma Dragoon took over is starting to warm up significantly, going active, and then there's the worst part.”

Alia explained before either commander could ask for it, “The arctic base under Repliforce's control is starting to deploy mechaniloid strike teams at our scout teams.”

Signas clearly had ideas already, but he looked to X.

“Active attack gets priority. Let the scout teams know I'll be backing them up personally,” X started, already starting to move toward the doors, Alia, Dex, and Signas moving with him.

“I want a covert-expertise squad re-tasked to examine that biolab situation. Only engage if active threat to civilians is confirmed.”

Alia noted it down.

“Magma Dragoon is an unknown at the moment. If any squads are comfortable splitting, a pair of Hunters out to observe that volcano.”

Dex got that.

“The network situation seems extreme enough to be a type of jamming attack. Alia, if you or someone you trust can spare the focus, try to localize the source of it. This situation is already exploding, we can't have intel delayed!”

Alia gave a sharp nod, “Dr. Cain might want to help with that one!” and bolted off.

Dex saluted before he did the same, and X twisted to Signas as he started to jog backward, “Signas, you have command while I'm deployed!”

“Copy that. Good luck, X.”

X waved, and then thruster-blasted down the hall.

* * *

Groups of humanoid mechaniloids wielding plasma weapons were marching through the snow, already peppering fire onto a rocky plateau. Two units of Hunters were holding their ground there, obeying orders not to go on the offensive.

One of the mechaniloids lost its head in a flash of plasma.

Cadis watched it slump limply into the snow before she sharply ducked back down into cover. “Is it bad that I wish these were Mavericks, so we could really go all out?”

Tripwire, Spikesaw, and Snapvice were staying in cover for the moment, their weapons best applied at mid-to-close ranges. Tripwire replied, “Kinda bad. I feel the same way, though.”

“Would definitely be simpler!” Pyrostrike returned after letting off a fireblast, ducking back down as well.

Acid Seahorse rolled his optics as he stayed curled down low. “At least they're mechaniloids. Nonlethal method orders makes my weapon system a bit moot.”

Blast Squirrel shrugged, then popped off a shot himself. “Could go for their limbs?”

Cadis led the others in awkwardly staring at him as he ducked back into cover.

“What? It's not lethal for Reploids!”

Turbo groaned a bit, then stood up to fire off a cutter-beam. “Those mechaniloid squads are getting close now.”

Cadis checked her rifle, and then looked across her comrades. “All together?”

Tripwire and Turbo both nodded. “All together!”

All eight Hunters suddenly snapped up, firing weapons or snapping off attacks from their dangerous limbs.

A full rank of mechaniloids was punched through, torn, whipped back, or shattered, leaving only a handful remaining in the current force.

Units 61 and 76 quickly ducked back to cover before the survivors fired back.

“Back-up is on the way, right?” Cadis added meekly.

X's voice came across the comms that moment. “Yes, sorry about the timing.”

Shearing air made them all glance out carefully, just in time to watch a teleportation beam slam down right between the remaining mechaniloids. As they twisted to fire on whoever it was, X's busters formed out of the sides of the teleportation field, firing plasma-bolts rapidly enough to knock the mechaniloids back, a couple punched clean through.

Fully formed a moment later, X twisted around, using a fire-blast stream to thermal-shock the remaining mechaniloids into pieces.

Cycling his respirator amidst the steam, X gave a wave over his shoulder to the others. “Maintain nonlethal methods on the Repliforce Reploids we engage. Charge with me, then keep pressure on their base. I'll infiltrate to deal with the commander.”

Cadis grinned, leaping out of cover with a whip of her dark ponytail. Tripwire chuckled as he joined the others in quickly rushing out to join X, all of them advancing as a united force through the snow.

* * *

“There's a ridge blocking my sh—Whoa!” Cadis cut herself as Tripwire coiled one blade-tether around her waist, shot the other into a higher ice-crest, and ratcheted them both higher.

Cadis aimed while hanging and fired three bursts from her rifle, managing to lance as many mechaniloids near the start of the Repliforce facility buried in the ice and rock.

Once she was let back down to continue the charge with the others, she smirked at Tripwire.

“Little warning, next time?”

“Yeah, sorry about that!”

Spikesaw and Snapvice were very close in X's wake, and each one tore out to the sides, either straight slicing through mechaniloids, or crushing them apart with quick lunging strikes.

X snapped his eyes to the right as one of the ride-armors leapt down into the fray, a Repliforce pilot sending the plasma-blade punching toward Snapvice.

Acid Seahorse ripped past behind it, spraying the armor's legs with his powerful acid. This let Snapvice dodge easily, X continue charging, and as the ride-armor punched down into the sizzling snow, Turbo flickered up onto the pilot's back, holding a stun-baton near his neck.

“Unconscious or surrender, either way, you're done,” Turbo warned in a hiss of a voice.

The Repliforce Reploid growled, and started to lift his arms to fight back. Turbo jolted him.

“...Vitals still green!” Turbo confirmed clearly through comms.

The other ride-armor finally jumped down, this time from the left. Spikesaw performed a surprisingly graceful fold-back with sliding on his knees to avoid the initial swipe. He didn't have to do more, because Pyrostrike flipped past the armor, burn-slicing the armor's limbs at the elbows.

Blast Squirrel crashed down onto the driver, similar to how Turbo had the other, and held a stunner near him. “Stand down or get knocked out.”

This one watched angrily, but slowly lifted his hands in surrender.

Blast Squirrel nodded, and secured the soldier's arms. Pyrostrike stayed to help him get the soldier out of the damaged armor.

Cadis and Tripwire caught up, just as X reached the base's gate.

“Well done! I may lose contact inside the base. Hold as long as you can, but if their forces end up greater than you can manage, just retreat. I'll figure out my own exit regardless,” X explained quickly, even while one hand was pressed into the keypad for opening gate, apparently accessing the software directly to crack it.

Everyone else nodded sharply, but Cadis pouted. “X... you're sure?”

X looked to her with a little smile, and simply nodded.

The gate finally pulled open from his bypass, and X boosted inside.

Tripwire and Turbo readied their weapons.

“Find cover positions and hold. They know we hit hard, expect plenty to pour out.”

“Copy!” chorused back.

* * *

X boost-jumped past several mechaniloids, most of them exploding in his wake from a volley of magnet mines and homing torpedoes. Landing heavily, he glanced around with some concern at the oddly large space before the next section of the base narrowed the hall back down.

“...I suppose 'infiltrating' is the wrong term for what I'm doing,” he muttered to himself as he straightened, his optics dilating slightly as his sensors revved up higher.

He was about to override his instincts and rush ahead when he sensed the air-pressure and tremors of something erupting back to his left.

X dive-twisted to his forward left, just pulling his legs out of the path of something pale ripping through the air he'd occupied a moment before.

Rolling to a halt, busters ready, X squinted at the... claw? Of animated ice that was slowly turning around to face its palm toward him again.

Three digits with sharp ice-spike for tips flexed tensely as a crimson optic seemed to draw to a focus on him from the dead center of the palm.

With his sensors already maxed, X could perceive the electromagnetic currents supercharging the water crystals of the ice around whatever device was in the center.

“You can structure and control ice to that level of detail, and you're wasting it on a defense drone?” X had to ask aloud in disbelief.

The claw rushed him again, capable of tremendous speed.

X boosted, flickering to one side, his sensors showing him the trail of warped electromagnetics. It was even using charged particles to accelerated itself through the chamber.

This time, as it spun around to lock onto him again, X snapped off buster shots into the red optic. The claws snapped shut into a fist, deflecting most of the blasts, or soaking the impact of the rest.

“Cute,” X grumbled dismally before he dove aside once more, the 'fist' of ice ripping past him and smashing into the wall with a thundering rush.

Gathering energy, X waited more tensely, drawing one foot back, twisting his frame slightly. The ice-claw unfolded, twisted, and ripped toward him yet again.

This time, X twist-flipped, one boot slamming into the top finger of one side, an arm blocking the other, and his other boot slamming down into the 'thumb'. Still part of the same rush of motion, X jammed his buster into the crimson optic, and unleashed his full plasma-charge.

The air was blinding for a beat, the claw flew back missing half of its icy form, and X dropped to his haunches.

He got to watch as it started to swirl ice back toward itself, trying to 'heal' the damage.

“No, we're done here,” X retorted, and blitzed forward, his colors snapping as a tornado-fang loaded out and formed on his right buster.

Just as the claw was starting to regain its form, the drill from X's arm slammed straight through the optic, out the back, and he pinned the mechaniloid to the wall.

It twitched, then shattered apart.

X sighed, reverted his weapons, and boosted down the next hall.

* * *

Cadis had her optic screen adjusted to infrared, but was still tapping at it in annoyance as she peeked out of cover with Snapvice.

“I hear power-cores on the wind, but I'm not catching any heat signatures,” she grumbled.

Snapvice shrugged his low-set shoulders. “We just let them get closer then.”

Tripwire was adjusting parts of his cutting blades on the ends of his chords as he replied, “No, Cadis is right. If they get on top of us, we won't be able to stop them from rushing in behind X.”

On comms, Pyrostrike joined in on the coversation from his unit's cover just across the valley of approach to the base.

“Tripwire, you okay taking one for the team?”

Tripwire paused, groaning. “What do you want?”

“If Snapvice brings one of your tethers over here, you two can have a trip-line ready to snap up. The rest of us can ambush the forces from the sides.”

Cadis pouted, and reached out. Touching Tripwire's shoulder, he blinked at her in surprise.

“You don't have to agree to that.”

Tripwire tilted his head. “Why are you so worried?”

Cadis tilted her head down. “Because I've seen what happens when you strain your tethers.”

He was caught, privately quite deeply appreciative of her thinking of him. She'd seen him nearly tear his arms apart to get her to comm-range during the Dopplertown war. He hadn't realized that moment had affected her so much.

Tripwire reached up, and touched her hand. “If it works, I'll be glad of it.”

Cadis offered a wan smile, nodded, and shifted back to get into a ready-fire position.

Snapvice and Spikesaw shared a little glance, then Snapvice simply hopped out with a little grunt, and dive-rolled over to Turbo's team.

Tripwire fired his left tether over to Snapvice, and they both wiggled the line down into the snow so it was less obvious.

Cadis and Spikesaw readied near Tripwire, with Blast Squirrel, Pyrostrike, Acid Seahorse, and Turbo ready on the other side.

Cadis' sensor beeped an alert, and she finally saw glowing on her infrared scan. “Got them! Six targets incoming. Silhouette would make sense for Reploids on hover-speeders.”

Turbo touched his ear, “Approximate speed?”

“If the silhouette is what I think it is, they're moving upwards of 300 kph.”

“Alright. Cadis, we need a signal when they're 5 seconds out. That won't give them time to react to the tether coming up.”

Cadis winced. “Only five seconds?”

Spikesaw calmly rumbled, “Turbo knows speed and reaction time almost better than Quickman. Trust him.”

“...Copy, five seconds!”

Most of the two units shared a little smile at her self-correction, and got ready.

Cadis watched with growing tension as the line of speeder-riders closed so rapidly. Her eyes remained locked on her target, the far rider on her side. The counter ticked down rapidly as her systems recalculated and updated the speed estimates.

It was time. She clicked her comms so she could keep her voice low, “Mark, five seconds!”

Tripwire and Snapvice both wrenched from each other, snapping Tripwire's left arm taut with the tether bursting up from the snow to about waist-height.

All six speeders swerved violently, but their momentum was too much. Even sidelong or perhaps backwards, they slammed into the tether.

All but one were completely dismounted. Tripwire barked from his arm being yanked so harshly, but Snapvice released it as soon as anyone could be sure the tether had done its job.

Cadis tracked instantly, and the one speeder that was still trying to hover along, she blew out the generator on the rear side.

The Repliforce soldiers, mostly wounded, sputtered their respirators as they tried to regroup with weapons up, but the Hunter units were on them too fast. Turbo took the furthest one personally, getting the soldier's arms behind himself and bound before a weapon could even come out.

Snapvice held his with one grip-claw. Cadis, and Spikesaw had theirs pinned down and bound shortly. Acid Seahorse kept a few worried enough to stay down as Pyrostrike and Blast Squirrel bound their arms.

Tripwire's arm made awful grinding sounds as he folded it near himself, but he didn't seem fazed by the pain. Cadis glanced up to him with concern, and for some reason, she noticed it made him feel guilty before he focused out on the captives.

“So then... You can see we don't intend to harm you beyond necessity. How many more are coming?”

One of the soldiers spat lubrication at Tripwire's feet.

Tripwire didn't seem terribly fazed by the rude gesture. “So you want to expose your comrades to greater chance of harm and possibly death due to a surprise attack on both sides? If we can prepare for them, they will be kept alive as prisoners pending review, nothing more severe.”

“We have our pride, Maverick Hunters. We'll never concede to being Mavericks, and we won't cooperate with your ambush!”

Tripwire leaned down into the soldier's face. “Do you care about your comrades? Because that is all I value. If your pride means you'll let them suffer a worse fate than yourself? Your pride is an insult to their efforts.”

Cadis raised her eyebrows at the cutting retort, the others sharing a mild glance.

The other soldiers did seem somewhat caught by the phrasing. The one facing Tripwire, however, only showed vitriol in his expression, jaw clenched shut.

Tripwire shrugged, and straightened. “We'll have to jam their communication systems for now then, and set back up.”

Turbo, Pyrostrike, and the others quickly nodded, starting to shift to apply system-disruption jammers onto the frames of the captives, but then one of the soldiers, the one held by Cadis, spoke up.

“There are two more squads, but they're smaller. Teams of three. When our check-in is missed, they'll come in waves.”

Tripwire looked to him. “Same direction?”

“Likely, but it'll be up to their discretion.”

Tripwire nodded. “We still have to bind your communication systems temporarily, but once we have all teams secured, that restriction will be removed due to your cooperation.”

Pyrostrike started to heft his toward the little cave his unit had been using. “Let's get ready.”

Cadis started to lead hers a bit more politely to her unit's alcove, but made sure to give Tripwire a little smile as she passed.

He smiled back, but once she was passed, he did seem a bit more haunted.

* * *

X had to twist, juke, and flip around crashing iceblocks as different mechaniloids tried to crush him beneath fabricated cubes. It was a rudimentary defense system, but considering how much trouble it was giving him, he wasn't eager to call it weak.

He used combinations of Flame Stag, Flame Mammoth, and Tunnel Rhino's weapons to blast, melt, and punch through the obstacles dropped into his path, as well as several mechaniloids that tried to aid the blockade.

The rock the base had been embedded into created a natural kind of jamming environment. Alia's feed of data had been lost several minutes ago. X tried to remind himself to apologize to her for the extra worry, while letting his higher-level sensors perform their multi-spectrum analysis to map out his environment properly for him.

Apparently, there was a centralized chamber ahead, past a few bends and twists in the approaching hall he was using. He was tempted to blast through with tornado fang and twin burner, but realized that would end up taking longer than just following the trap-laden path.

X turned an ice-block to steam, flipped over a mechaniloid with a pistol, and sent tornado fangs into that one and another ahead of him. They lost their weapon arms, and were left confused as to how to follow their programming without a weapon.

Fireblasting more crashing ice, boosting from surface to surface thanks to his speed, X closed on the larger chamber in remarkable time. A few mobile-turret mechaniloids started to barrage his position, but he simply used his plasma blasts to blow most of them apart mid-leap. Landing into a fresh dash, he skated around a corner, and closed on the sealed gate for the central chamber.

X was just stopping to analyze the gate's security measures when it clicked, boomed, and shifted open on heavy hydraulics, the middle splitting across. X's brow creased, and he slowly walked through the steam-mist from the shifts of pressure and air currents.

Once he could make out parts of the room, it was more obviously a command center. A large set of consoles with a unified master-display waited to one side, though everything was still partially frosted over and kept chilled.

“...Efficient, I supposed. Save on resources for thermal camoflage, if the entire base is matched to ambient temperature.”

“Old tricks are the best tricks, ey, kid?”

The voice was thunderously powerful, and it was hard to source properly in the single chamber because of how quickly it resounded off the surfaces all over.

Frost Walrus stomped into visibility further ahead of X, and he positively towered over the Light-created Reploid. X was barely up to his knee.

Walrus was frowning darkly already. “Can't believe they sent a kid like you to stop me. It's downright insulting.”

X became mildly dismal at the insult, but didn't directly reply to it. “Frost Walrus, yes? You're the commander of this facility?”

Frost Walrus smashed his massive fists together. “No, I'm the janitor.”

X sank his head slightly. “Because you've got vermin to clean up?”

Walrus smirked. “Something like that.”

X exhaled, and said his piece anyway. “The Maverick Hunters have been charged with stopping the Repliforce activity currently going on. If you disable your weapons and allow me to take you into custody, I can promise you fair treatment, and every effort will be made to free you once the violence has been stopped.”

“You're a really naive little brat, and I'm bored now. GOOD BYE!”

Frost Walrus' face lit up with fierce glee, one fist rushing down to crush X into the flooring.

X flickered to one side, letting the fist smash into the chilled metal, pulling the air down his front by mere centimeters of clearance. Only then did X show a grim, focused expression, sidelong up at Walrus.

“This doesn't need to be a fight. I know you're not a Maverick.”

Frost Walrus narrowed his eyes, appraising X somewhat. “So you do have some ice in your servos. Fair enough. It isn't going to matter, kid. The humans made their call.”

“And I'm making mine. Please stand down.”

Walrus' answer was his fist snapping toward X from the ground it had pressed into.

X actually hopped up and pressed his hands into the fist, letting it carry him sharply upward. Once he was thrown free, he rolled over himself and blasted his thrusters, killing his momentum.

Frost Walrus stared up at him, frowning at the lack of harm from his attack.

X loosely dropped to a crouch from his halted flight, and straightened calmly. “The humans tried to kill you, but I've have no desire for bloodshed. The military action the Repliforce has taken is not sanctioned. I only need you to surrender into my custody. I promise, I am on your people's side in the aftermath. We just need this to stop.”

“That's not how armies work, brat.”

Frost Walrus suddenly flexed his arms, his frame going taut, and then his shoulders suddenly gushed freezing mist up across the ceiling of the chamber.

X braced, unsure what was being done at first, then saw the massive stalactites of ice forming out of the mist. He had to suddenly burst into full speed, flickering dodges all around the room as the huge chunks of sharpened ice came crashing down.

Frost himself simply shrugged off a couple that tried to fall on him. He tracked X's motions, and then suddenly full-body dove, sliding after X on an intercept course.

X was fully committed to flying forward at that moment, and had to sharply twist, spiral, and roll along Frost Walrus' arm, shoulder, and back.

Frost slammed into the wall with shuddering force, though apparently none the worse for wear, while X had to skid back on his boots and one hand, barely upright.

“You don't fight an ice-expert in the arctic, brat.”

X exhaled heavily, his respirator misting through his lips as his eyes lifted to Frost calmly. “I'll admit, I've gotten used to people knowing who I am. Guess it's good to get the ego checked.”

“I'm supposed to know who you are, huh?” Frost Walrus chortled, and then started to stomp for X like a charging bison.

X's colors snapped. “Chill Penguin and Blizzard Buffalo couldn't be here today.”

X suddenly twisted and writhed, his busters unleashing several generators for frost-shield, and snap-blasting shot-gun-ice around him into a building, spiral glacier faced against the charging Repliforce commander.

Those names caught Frost's attention, and he halted himself with the expected expertise on slippery flooring, managing to fold or successfully deflect the frost-shield rockets away from his person. He glanced around as crystals of ice erupted out from their impact points.

X's colors snapped again, his busters radiating heat enough to shimmer the air and evaporate the mist immediately around his arms. “This fighting is completely pointless. Please surrender and order your people to stand down.”

Frost Walrus smirked again. “You think, just because you can actually fight, I'm going to back down from my duty, kid? You really wouldn't have what it takes to be a soldier.”

X's brow shivered, but he controlled it. It was a selfish reaction. Outrage at being accused of not knowing how to hold to a line, keep to a duty. ...It didn't matter in this moment. He was trying to save lives. “I expect you to value your soldiers enough to order them to stand down, so they live to fight a real threat down the line.”

Frost Walrus smashed his fists together, freezing mist venting from behind his ice-tusks and shoulders. “That's not how armies work.”

The giant Reploid suddenly ducked and twisted, his arms sweeping out. X resisted the urge to sheer them off with his weapons, and instead flipped over the first, slid under the second, and finally rolled out of range of the third swipe.

Frost Walrus launched himself smoothly out of the spin, driving a smashing punch toward X, aiming to crush him into the wall.

X focused, braced, and then flickered as Frost reached him.

X skidded out behind the soldier, and Frost Walrus ground to a halt, twisting to stare back at him. That was when Frost Walrus' eyes widened, and he looked down, feeling at his ice tusks. They had been flash-vaporized off his face.

_How the... I never saw him fire..._

It was clear Frost Walrus was re-estimating X now.

X remained tensed, heat still writhing off his weapons. “That was a final warning shot. Stand down, please. If you force my hand, I will disable you.”

Frost Walrus vented more mist, and his tusks regrew instantly. “Just means I get a real fight after all.”

And then he ripped forward, somehow able to maneuver his feet on the slick flooring with focused certainty. He was on X like an avalanche, fists snapping inward.

X boosted right off the floor, flickering just over the smashing fists. He actually landed on them, but didn't aim his weapons. “WHY!? Why is this the only option you're allowing!? This fight doesn't have to happen!”

Frost Walrus twisted one wrist, and managed to grab one of X's arms. “Liberty is worth dying for.”

And he whipped around, sending X flying at the wall.

Frost Walrus tensed again as he watched X flip over himself and land into the wall, folding down to his haunches, until the bulkhead itself dented and cracked.

Instead of rebounding to attack back, X just loosely landed on the floor. “I will make sure you all get liberty. What the council tried to do was wrong, but this isn't better!”

“Then you're just too naive for this war!”

Frost Walrus dove at X, slide-ramming toward him this time.

X gritted his teeth in frustration, then flipped with a booster assist, sailing over Frost Walrus. He landed to a backward skid, meeting Frost Walrus' gaze as the soldier snapped around.

“You don't get it, what it's like for us,” Frost finally started. “The General gave the order. If we don't stick to that, we're a dishonor to the Repliforce. Only way you're stopping us, is taking us down.”

X opened his mouth, but stopped. He lips sank shut. That was the difference. If they stepped down, they were insulting everyone else who called them comrade. They really did view it as if a bunch of Mavericks were telling them to surrender.

“...You know how much damage I have to inflict to disable you, I trust?” X asked in a strangely quiet, detached voice.

Frost Walrus smirked, and blasted mist into the ceiling again. “Of course! I'm about to do it to you!”

Ice-spikes started to crash down again, while Frost himself slide-rammed toward X.

X suddenly rushed forward, but without boosting. He spun, wove, and flowed around the crashing ice, power flowing into his frame. Just when Frost was going to crash into him, X's body ignited, and he ripped past the soldier's left side.

Frost Walrus cried out, roaring from the pain as he rolled over. His left arm and leg had been seared off, parts of the wounds still glowing molten, the rest burnt solid.

He suddenly shifted to furious growling, and wrenched himself over, one-hand-lunging across the flooring to get to X.

“I had to be sure you'd be still enough for me to put you in emergency-stasis,” X explained quietly, and back-flipped over Frost.

Frost couldn't react very fast with only half of his limbs, and only felt the lancing pain of the jet of fire from X's buster for a core-pulse before his vital systems separated themselves from his frame internally.

Frost Walrus' body shut down, and X knelt on his back, reverting his colors and busters in silence for a few seconds.

After cycling his respirator for a few moments, X touched Frost Walrus' head, his advanced systems pulling the security codes he needed from the local memory storage of the frame.

Once he could, he opened his comms to all the local Repliforce soldiers and Maverick Hunters.

“Commander Frost Walrus is in emergency stasis. This is Maverick Hunter X. Authorization code alpha-zeta-zeta-four. All units stand down, depower weapons, and surrender to Maverick Hunter forces, or you will be forcibly detained.”

Able to use the base's own systems, X was no longer jammed by the depth in the rock.

Alia's voice came through a moment later. “Emergency-stasis...?” Her tone was soft, worried, rather than accusatory. She'd heard the pained edge in X's broadcast.

X looked up at nothing. “They can't back down. Not if they really believe in the General.”

“...Understood. Tripwire and Turbo's units handled things well outside. The ice-base is neutralized, X.”

“...Thank you.”

But he felt very alone in that cold room.


	5. Fish in a Barrel

The moment X arrived in the tele-bay of HQ, Signas, Alia, Zero, and Iris were there.

“The council's pissed, and they're demanding to talk to you,” Zero 'greeted.'

Alia sighed, but didn't correct it, adding, “And we need more detailed orders for all the Repliforce members who were taken into custody.”

Signas gestured to them. “Repliforce is already reinforcing its other holdings with more automated defenses and mechaniloids.”

Iris just looked harrowed, pale.

X shared the sad look with Iris first, then looked to Zero. “I'll talk to them shortly.” To Alia, he added, “Armament impeded, then treated as civilian prisoners. I want legal advisors supplied for them as soon as possible.”

Alia blinked, but quickly tapped at her data-slate, already turning to run off for that.

“As for the reinforcements, it's to be expected. Reach out to Unit 14. I want Crush Crawfish to scout for us near the cargo port facility. We need an entrance.”

Signas saluted, and flowed around Iris to carry that out as well.

X fully focused on Iris, stepping to her. “They won't back down, just like we wouldn't. I will do all in my power to avoid harm, but you know I have to _stop_ this, yes?”

Iris' eyes watered, but she nodded, her head sinking with it.

X rested a hand on her shoulder, causing her to glance to his eyes.

“I will do everything I can to ensure your brother survives this situation.”

Iris smiled weakly, nodded, and then started to hurry off before she broke down.

X pinched the bridge of his nose in her wake.

Zero folded his arms, his eyes shifting from Iris' departure back to X. “I'm not entirely sure what your gameplan is, here, X. That's a dangerous promise to make.”

X's fists clenched, but he started to move forward. “It is, yes. I'll answer the council in the command center.”

Zero raised an eyebrow as he shifted to follow. “You want that many people to see you get yelled at?”

“I was never going to care about being yelled at.”

* * *

“You can't treat war-criminals like civilians!” Councilor Teagan almost shrieked with indignation.

“I am going to treat disarmed individuals who peacefully surrendered with all due respect and consideration of their rights as I deem fit, Councilor. That is part of my duties as the commander of the Maverick Hunters,” X retorted rather calmly, leaning on the holotable, above which Teagan's face was floating in facsimile.

Dex and Alia shared a little amused glance at X just dishing back at the ornery councilor.

“Then how do you justify Frost Walrus' still being alive!?”

X bowed his head grimly, letting that icy anger show. “Frost Walrus was put into emergency stasis due to catastrophic injuries, only done after he attempted to kill a member of the Maverick Hunters multiple times. He is alive, because we are not executioners, we are peacekeepers.”

“You're 'Hunters'!”

“Hunters tasked with ending a conflict created by choices made by your council, Councilor. One of the Repliforce's secured bases is now under Maverick Hunter control. That is a step exactly in the direction of our current mandate. You have yet to give me a cause for correcting my behavior.”

This time it was Zero and Signas who shared a glance, Iris finding comfort in X's stalwart defense of doing everything to avoid lethal response.

“This would be resolved much faster if you eliminated--”

This time X cut him off sharply, “If we murdered the witnesses to your war crime?”

The command center froze, many wide eyes staring at X. Councilor Teagan was struck dumb from the pure shock of the blatant reprimand.

“We're not enforcers, Councilor. I promised you I would end this situation and avoid human deaths as much as possible, as quickly as possible, and the only delay I'm experiencing in that exact duty is your own complaints. Is this conversation over?”

Councilor Teagan was clearly livid, but the line went dead, his holographic face vanishing.

X exhaled, and straightened before anyone could really say more on the subject. “Status update? Current prisoners and scouting?”

There was a small pause as everyone realized X was intent on getting straight back to the work at hand, and then Alia and Dex started relaying what progress had been made.

* * *

Crush Crawfish narrowed his beady optics as he looked through the water. Built for underwater work, his optics had special filters and his audio receptors had upgraded sonic detection, allowing him to see far more clearly than most in such murky depths.

 _I don't like it,_ he mused darkly, gliding through the water to re-circle his perimeter around the facility.

Regular patrols whipped past on the surface above. Mechaniloids patrolled in the water, but Crush kept his distance, and was uniquely hard to detect himself in this environment. There were heavy turrets on reinforced bulkheads. Few entrances, and those that existed were strictly guarded with overlapping shifts.

And then there was a very simple, open utility path on the far side of the facility, half submerged, with some visible catwalks and support girders further in the cavern's depths. It had mines... spaced too far apart to be reliable, and no patrols.

“HQ, do you copy?”

“We read you, Crush Crawfish. This is Operator Iris. What do you need?”

Crush glided down into a dark crack in the ocean floor, looking up at the too-obvious entry point. “Found one entry point, but it's screaming bait. Every other approach would be all-out assault to get through. Need confirmation of how far command wants me to scout the entry point.”

“Understood, one moment!”

In the command center, Iris twisted in her seat. “Commander X, sir, Crush Crawfish's report is in. He has one entry point, but it's highly suspicious. Do you want him to scout further in?”

X, Signas, and Zero all glanced to her.

X asked, “No other possibilities?”

“He reports they would all require full assault to pierce meaningfully,” Iris confirmed with a little nod. She was admirably holding herself professionally composed with all the personal stress she was under.

X shunted his jaw to one side.

Zero nodded a little, “That screams trap, alright. Crush is a reliable Hunter, though, especially in that environment. He might be able to spring it and run.”

Signas tipped his head. “Possible, but I'd rather he at least had his unit with him for that kind of risk.”

X exhaled. “I agree. The risk is too high for Crush without his unit, and his unit isn't equipped properly for that mission. Iris? Tell Crush to come home. We'll prepare something.”

Iris saluted softly, and twisted back to her console.

* * *

Alia turned from her console a short time later. Crush Crawfish was still on his way back, but there were a lot of issues hitting at all times. “X?”

“Go ahead?” he prompted, looking up to her from the holotable, currently highlighting Repliforce holdings.

“That network issue seems to be focused around a server hub in Regis City. Very powerful network throughput there, so it makes sense it could generate the signals slowing down the global network, but it shouldn't be able to do it alone.”

X frowned, but responded quickly, “Issue your report to the council, as well as requesting permission to sever that server hub's hard-lines. We'll isolate as quickly as we can, then investigate when less bullets are in the air.”

Alia twisted to her desk with a quick wave just as Dex leaned back from his.

“Bosses, update from Shimmer on that biolab issue!”

X, Signas, and Zero were attentive, but X was the one to respond.

“Patch him through.”

Shimmer's unique, shifting optics appeared with his holographic face over the holotable.

“Command, there's definitely something fishy at the lab. As two separate encounters, I had to keep mechaniloids with tranq weapons off of several civilians, and when I infiltrated an entry area of the lab structure, I found heavy physical defenses, additional to mechaniloid forces. It's a damn fortress.”

Zero folded his arms. “How the hell did something like this slip the net? It was an abandoned facility, right?”

Shimmer replied, “I looked into that with some help from Unit 27 and Dr. Cain. He, Warp Turtle, and Mapteron found evidence that some city records had been corrupted or doctored, making the labs records fail to populate on normal searches. Everything else would just require operational security and stealth.”

X glanced to Signas, nodding.

Signas spoke up, “Well done. Call in the rest of your unit and Unit 27, Shimmer. I want both teams keeping that place locked down from the outside, while trying to keep violence... less than obvious to the population. We have too many fires to put out.”

“And the people already missing?”

X answered this, “Are precisely why we can't ignore that lab, but we have to handle a major operation against Repliforce soon, or this will get much worse.”

“I'm just looking for permission to launch a rescue op with two units, sir.”

X paused, his eyes glancing across the holomaps with dark calculation. Zero raised an eyebrow, expecting X to bolt off himself to storm the lab. He realized the anger he could sense in X's frame was from that very conflict.

“...Granted, Shimmer, but keep us abreast of your tactics. I want an emergency support response ready before you engage. Your priority is civilian extraction, not resolving the lab situation itself.”

“Copy! Shimmer out!”

Signas looked across to X, sharing the grim mood. “Not like you to hesitate.”

X leaned onto the table with his hands, and Alia, Zero, Iris, and Signas could hear the faint creaking from his grip. “There's too much happening at once. Something is trying to spread us too thin.”

And then the command center entry opened, with Crush Crawfish marching through behind his massive claws.

“Spread thin or not, I hope you have a plan to hit the water base?”

X twisted to focus on him more fully. “We're finalizing it now, in fact. Good work, Crush.”

Only stopping when he was near the holotable as well, Crush Crawfish continued, “My main concern with that access point is the spacing of the mines. Too far apart, but too many to have been placed lazily.”

Zero leaned against the table by a hip, arms folded, “We already suspect trap, so why is that the part sticking in your processor?”

“Because if they were all set off manually, it would still obliterate anything in the area.”

Signas raised an eyebrow. “A good point then. They're just waiting to see whoever tries it, and will likely blow whatever part of the field will cover their concerns.”

Crush tipped his head to Signas.

X pressed his lips together firmly, thinking, and then glanced over his shoulder. Alia was still busy, likely with getting the server hub quarantined. So, he focused across to Iris. “Iris, what's the top speed of our hover-bikes currently?”

Iris turned her seat to look back to him, Zero, Signas, and Crush all watching with curiosity.

“Well over 230 kilometers per hour, sir, but only a few pilots have the ability to maneuver them at such speeds.”

X sighed heavily, rubbing at his brow with a couple of fingers.

“I can be surgical,” Crush offered seriously.

X nodded, but met Crush's optics instead of sending him. “I'm not comfortable risking someone under my command for this kind of obvious trap.”

Zero narrowed his eyes. “So you're going to bolt off on your own after all this?”

“Only because Dr. Light made this body.”

Alia stopped whatever she was doing, twisting her chair. “You've got to be joking.”

X twitched, Zero and Signas sharing a faint smile.

Turning to her, X seemed apologetic, but not backing down. “Of everyone we have, I'm the least likely to die from that kind of trap.”

Alia was rigid. Her eyes narrowed, her jaw shifted, and then she just turned back to her console.

Zero, Signas, Iris, and even Crush Crawfish leaned a little in wariness from the implied anger.

X rubbed one temple as he turned back. “Crush, your intel is why this mission will work. Thank you. Please rejoin your unit. Shimmer is coordinating a new mission for you.”

Crush Crawfish narrowed his optics for a moment, but nodded, and twisted to bound out of the command center.

X focused on Zero next, the crimson Reploid moderately surprised by it. “Zero, I'd appreciate you pulling a couple of units, and distract the water base's perimeter points. Just enough to get their attention, then change to a different point. It'll give me a little breathing room to get inside and neutralize whatever they're operating on in there.”

Zero raised an eyebrow higher. “Interesting... Understood. I'll pull 61 and 32.”

X smiled a bit. “Thank you. Signal when ready.”

Zero tipped his fingers in a salute, and jogged out of the command center.

Signas tilted his head mildly. “Keeping him busy?”

X shrugged. “At the moment, we're not sure where else to focus combat forces. I want a little more intel before we spread even thinner.”

“Might help if you avoided marching into suicide missions,” Alia grumbled darkly.

X twitched again, everyone else glancing off as if they didn't hear it.

* * *

Zero's ponytail lashed violently from the highvelocity, his hover-bike blasting across the ocean in formation with Deepfreeze, Overload, Blizzard Buffalo, and Volt Catfish. Just as they passed a jutting rock-cliff, cannons along the tops of the water-base's heavily fortified perimeter wall started blasting toward their position.

Since voice would be difficult to make out while ripping across water and explosions, Zero stuck to internal comms rather than moving his mouth.

“Got their attention alright. See if we can't do some damage before we pull back to hit the next point!”

“Copy!” chorused back on the line.

Zero charged straight like a madman, then just as the first defense cannon blast was about to hit his bike, his Z-saber flashed out like a fan of green power, disrupting and blasting the destructive force outward. It also allowed him to make a hairpin swerve and suddenly boost left at full acceleration.

This drew more cannons after him, and allowed Overload and Volt Catfish to rush up and unleashed storming blasts of electrical power along the wall, like glowing claws growing in an instant from some skeletal monstrosity of the depths.

This blew apart two cannons, and sent their gunners sprawling with shouts of pain... but clearly still alive.

Volt and Overload split instantly to the sides, allowing Deepfreeze and Blizzard Buffalo to rush up.

The icy duo swerved as mirrors of each other, and blasted their freezing weapons past themselves, toward the perimeter wall. The combination of force, flash-freezing, and speed made a sheet of spiky ice crash up into the perimeter gate violently, doing superficial, but widespread damage in an instant.

That was when Repliforce patrols joined the fray, charging in from multiple angles on their own speeders, firing with busters and shoulder cannons. In unison, fresh waves of mechaniloids popped up from below the surface, and started to rush after each Maverick Hunter, clearly functioning as some kind of kamikaze attack.

All five Hunters showed surprising skill with the hover-bikes, swerving, boosting, juking to send mechaniloids exploding off of each other, or Repliforce soldiers scrambling to regain formation.

Zero glanced across the skirmish briefly as he swerved again, water spraying his face. _Volt and Blizzard I can understand being this good. They were veterans before Doppler's infection. It's X's friends that just don't move right. This is almost old hat for them, but none of them have logged much vehicle time after training pass._

Incoming energy blasts drew his focus away from the dark thoughts, his saber coiling through the air to disrupt them all harmlessly away from him. One he even deflected into a kamikaze mechaniloid, letting it detonate, and take its whole formation with it.

“More patrols incoming!” Deepfreeze warned sharply, dodging with Overload after his split from Blizzard Buffalo.

Zero boosted back, swerved again, and issued some fresh orders, “Unit 61, it's go time. Once you join us, we'll change attack locations!”

Zero and Unit 32 started to merge back together, apparently starting to become surrounded. Several more patrols of Repliforce soldiers on bikes were rushing to their position to reinforce the handful of remaining defenders trying to give chase.

Volt Catfish glanced back, having to rotate a good portion of his body to do so. “Trip Wire's team does realize we meant quickly, right?”

Overload chuckled. “They know we can handle things, and they know how to do their job, just let it ride, Volt.”

Two Repliforce bikers grew close enough to switch from firing with their mounted blasters to see if they could try to grab Deepfreeze and Overload off their bikes, apparently interested in prisoners as well.

Abruptly enough to be shocking even for Zero and Unit 32, the rear portions of both Repliforce bikes suddenly just vanished underwater, torn clean off by some ungodly force.

The bikes' speeds were such that it all but yanked the Repliforce soldiers back before they could even splash into the water, both quickly trying to find some means of getting away from whatever was beneath the water.

Three bolts sang out from beyond the jutting cliffs, and three Repliforce bikes took holes burned through their primary engines. They last all acceleration, and started to stink immediately.

With the remaining patrols trying to get around their allies to avoid harming them, and still chase down Zero's group, they were too focused to catch another problem. Just as Zero's team finished passing between a particular set of jagged rocks, a metallic chord snapped up from just below the surface. Four more soldiers were flung off their bikes by the abrupt impact.

Tripwire came rushing out on a bike of his own, his chord still retracting into his left arm. Cadis appeared, just holstering her sniper rifle onto her back, accelerating to join Zero's formation as well.

“Where're the other two?” Zero comm'd back quickly.

His answer came in style, as a Replifroce patrol that had intelligently cut around some cliffs to try to blockade them from ahead suddenly lost the bottoms of their bikes to Spikesaw rushing past between them, both of his arm saws down and smoothly recovering from tearing their vehicles apart.

And then Snapvice appeared from beneath the water, apparently able to move as hover-bike speeds in water under his own power somehow.

“The lack of subsurface defenses is laughable. I'd call the entire perimeter line bait, too, at this rate,” Snapvice commented dryly.

Zero chuckled, then switched to comms again, “Well then, it'd be rude to ignore the platter they've prepared for us! On to point 2, everyone!”

“Copy!”

* * *

Once Zero's force had enough attention, X started his infiltration. Swerving out on his own hover-bike, he blasted across the waters toward the minefield that was the path to the maintenance accessway. With his sensors set to maximum, he could map the entire area and the explosives while maintaining maximum speed on the bike.

With blasts of water and tight swerves at a few key moments, X flew through the minefield outside the access. He was most of the way through it when he sensed the problem. Every single mine was armed, starting to rapidly trill toward explosion. It wouldn't be enough time for anyone else.

X had dealt with worse more than once now. He actually snapped his legs over one side of the bike, full-force blasting his thrusters. It launched him and his bike sharply up and to one side just as the water outside and down part of the accessway erupted into explosive mist and shrapnel.

The hover-bike sparked violently as it scraped along the wall of the access way, but its sheer speed kept it going straight. X was able to rev it back up and blast back down to the path of flowing water within the access, flitting straight through the still-falling seaspray.

Now it was an obstacle course. Catwalks, supports, sporadic pockets of mines, all in a dimly lit service tunnel that was half-flooded. X juked, twisted, swerved, and blasted the bike's speed through, around, over, and under dozens of threats, his eyes looking out into nothing as his sensors soaked up so much information at once.

* * *

Alia glanced back to Signas at the holotable, “X is in, but sensor tracking is getting spotty already.”

Signas nodded. “I won't bother ordering you to stay attentive to his pings.”

They both shared a little smirk.

Iris, meanwhile, was rapidly dialing in data on her console while shooting information to Zero's team. Warnings about patrols lost in the scramble kept Cadis and Tripwire from being pinned down. Some location plotting helped Deepfreeze, Overload, Volt Catfish, and Blizzard Buffalo track and blow out the transports for other Repliforce members without harming them seriously.

“Zero, do you read?”

“Yes, Iris, what's up?”

“X's mission is started, but the mines went off together. Someone didn't fall for the bait.”

Zero's brow tensed as he whipped past another set of mechaniloids, his saber reducing them to debris. “So we don't have them off-balance. Understood. Good job, Iris.”

Iris smiled a little. She felt so pained with her brother on the opposing side, but her friends' efforts not to harm Repliforce members were helping her hold fast.

A flash of the condition Frost Walrus had been in when he arrived made her flinch. It was hard to reconcile that brutality with the gentle Reploid that had promised her Colonel would be kept safe.

Her eyes snapped to another point of her screen. “Cadis! Point 003 now!”

On her bike, Cadis twisted sharply, rifle aiming, and she saw the hovering mechaniloid just starting to unload. A lancing blast of her rifle destroyed it before it could blindside them. “Nice, thanks, Iris!”

Iris held a hand to her core for a pulse. “No problem.”

* * *

X knew something had to be about to happen. While it was daunting enough ahead, it couldn't be the entire trap. The waterway he was riding suddenly dropped off into oblivion, and a higher, fortified pathway continued on across a several meter gap.

The issue was that his bike was more than capable of making the jump. However, forcing someone to jump like that would leave them vulnerable, as hover vehicles had to rely on their additional thrusters to change direction mid-air.

And finally, just a few second out from the jump, X sensed the real attack. Three hover-bikes were just accelerating into his wake from the sides, likely from sealed corridors that had only just opened. He had no time to swerve or stop, he had to jump, and they would easily blow him out of the air with their bike-mounted cannons.

There was also no time to warn or talk them down.

X suddenly snapped both arms back, his hands reverting to busters, as he jammed his helmet down into the center of the controls to keep them straight. Using purely his sensors to aim, the plasma-bolts ripped back and hit the cannons or forward hover-fields of all three bikes chasing him.

The Repliforce soldiers riding them cried out in dismay, trying to keep control of their collapsing rides at near-max speed.

The next second, X was airborne. His colors shifted to purple and gray, he twisted at his waist to actually aim backwards, and just as each Repliforce soldier flew over the ridge of the pitfall, X fired grip-chains and magnet mines that were disarmed.

As X landed into a blast of speed, all three soldiers were left hanging, unharmed, on the ends of grip-chains, which were attached to catwalks by magnetic mines with no explosives in them.

One of the looked down into the ominous drop he was dangling above. “...So that happened.”

* * *

“Commander Stingray! The ambush in the service tunnel failed! The Hunter is closing on our central dock facility!”

Jet Stingray growled slowly through his filtered mouth. Tall, broad, and in the clean white, blue, red, and gold hues of the Repliforce, he showed no hesitation in his turn toward the open water and skies. Some hints of battle showed further out, where Zero's team was distracting defenses.

“Dispatch defense squads to the infiltrator. I'll intercept as well.”

“Y-yourself, sir? Understood!”

Jet crouched, energy writhing down his frame, and he rocketed into the air, blasting across the waters like a blast from a weapon.

* * *

The moment the sky opened out around him, X rushed down a series of metal ramps that were descending toward the internal side of the base. He could already see loading cranes, barricades, and some shadows of mines beneath the water being moved into position across a broad swath of the area ahead of him.

He hadn't gotten far when he heard converging hover-trails behind him from different angles. Another ambush, just slightly less prepared.

However, just as he was about to snap his busters back, something made the air scream above him, and he had to twist back to his controls and swerve violently to the right to avoid a glowing mass ripping through his previous position.

Jet Stingray arced off, maintaining his incredible speed, still brimming with energy as he angled for another diving pass.

X blinked. “I expected that from below, honestly.”

Cannon fire from the Repliforce bikes behind him started to cut into his maneuvering options, just as he finally hit the water. Barricades and mines were going to be smashing into him in seconds.

Unfortunately for Repliforce, X hadn't risked letting his sensors relax yet. The world around him was a map of immense detail, with his processor able to keep up and supply multiple responses to dozens of different interactions between the various objects. And now that he'd experienced Stingray's attack, he knew quite a bit about it.

Snapping out one buster, X accelerated sharply into the first set of mines just in front of the first barricade. As he did so, Stingray was swooping in, with several of the Repliforce riders closing. Dodging the mines himself, X swerved into a hairpin twist, firing down into the water, while his bike started to angle up onto the barricade.

With a combination of his bike accelerating to maximum and the mines exploding, X was allowed to ride vertically over the barricade and shoot into the air, while the closest Repliforce soldiers were knocked from their rides by the shock of force from the mines going off.

Jet Stingray laughed as he rushed for X himself. “You can't escape me, Hunter!”

X calmly focused on Stingray, and used his boots to suddenly thruster-blast the bike over himself. Jet Stingray corkscrewed, staring up at X in angered alarm at the last-second flip.

And that wasn't all. As Stingray finished spinning his front toward the water below, X's bike came fully around, and X actually slammed the hover-field down into Stingray's primary thruster on his back.

The energy conflict overloaded both, but the bike simply emergency-cut it's front hover field on that kind of feedback. Stingray's thruster was never supposed to come into direct contact with the 'ground' in such a way, and overload violently, exploding on the Repliforce soldier's back.

Stingray roared, sputtering and spiraling awkwardly in the air. Meanwhile, X sailed down with his bike, and landed revving across the waters, closing on the central facility once again.

Stingray still had more speed, but had lost his ability to maneuver well at such velocity. He was retreating.

Now X just had to handle the basic defenses before he reached the control center.

* * *

Iris' voice reached Zero's team just as they were wreaking havoc on their third perimeter point.

“X is inside the perimeter, and he's engaged their security on that side. He is... apparently holding his own, and is en route to the control center for the base!”

Zero growled a bit as he swerved away from the guarding wall amid sea-spray. “All this, and he just crashed through their inner defense line?”

Cadis pressed her lips together, but a couple of the X-Hunters mingled into the group were resisting chuckles.

“I-I'm afraid so, sir,” Iris awkwardly confirmed. “Though, I suspect Alia already intends to bring the hammer down on him before you can, when X returns.”

That drew a chuckle from the whole team besides Zero himself as they all broke off to start toward the next point until ordered otherwise.

“IF he returns. How he justifies being damn-near suicidal while trying to save everyone, I'll never get.”

Cadis glanced to Zero. “He only does it when he believes he has to.”

“That's the problem!” Zero returned grumpily. “Anyway, Iris, are we keeping enough defenses busy to help still, or have they all turned on X anyway?”

“It's difficult to tell, sir! Patrols seem to be appearing from inside the base at an alarming rate, rather than anyone being retasked from the perimeter.”

Zero frowned. “So they're using reserves to hit X, and leaving the perimeter to manage us. Team! We continue as planned! There's no reason to suddenly double the danger for X just because he's a hotheaded moron. Get ready!”

“Yes, sir!”

* * *

“X, you realize how much trouble is heading your way, right?” Alia's voice was a razor thin balance between deep concern and equal frustration.

“I do. I'm sorry, Alia.”

It was all he could think to say, but it sounded pathetic even in his own audio receptors.

He was still swerving between mines, just escaping their manually triggered explosions, dodging barricades or vaulting over them, and as any few Repliforce patrols got close enough, he disabled their bikes, leaving them reliant on their flotation systems.

At last, and mostly thanks to the sheer speed, the central compound of the base was within reach. Of course, several defense cannons joined the fray as the last line of defense.

X began to swerve, juke, and alter speeds more intensely, though the first few plasma bolts he unleashed didn't do enough to stop the cannons. Adapting to that as several patrols closed on him, X suddenly swirled around with the bike, his left arm snapping off cutting discs, while his right fired alternating grapple-claws and disarmed magnetic mines, his body's colors dancing and writhing with the rapid weapon changes.

The disc-cutters sang their deadly whir as they smashed, slice, or arced toward the cannons, tearing the defense lines apart.

With cannon debris still airborne, the closing patrols were grappled, coiled up, and pinned back to the last line of barricades in rapid succession. One tried to sacrifice his arm to the tether to stay mobile otherwise, but the magnet-mine still yanked him clean off his bike, and against the barricade, where he hung by the shoulder.

Without drivers, the bikes splashes, swerved, or blew up upon the mines that hadn't been triggered on X himself.

With a boosted leap, X left his hover bike to glide to a stop on the water, and cleared the lines of cannons he'd just destroyed, dropping into a diving roll just in front of the entrance to Stingray's command center.

Now, X was wasting no time. He charged at a sprint, preparing to blast the armored doorway apart. His optics sharpened when it exposed a sphere-lock that opened for him, causing ominous memories to spill up in his mind. He didn't let it slow him, and boosted down the short hallway beyond.

What surprised him was the sudden drop-off into ocean water at the end of the hallway. It was clearly partially contained within the facility, but had obvious paths out to the waters beyond. Not directly needing to breathe, X let his systems shift to liquid-cooling for the moment, and sank down to the sandy floor, his sensors mapping, tracking, and feeling for a huge radius around his relatively small frame.

Water pressure and power systems. To his highly tuned sensors they were all but screaming their presence, charging for him through the fluid.

Deliberately waiting to the last second he could, X used a one-leg boost to snap-twist to his side, floating and feeling the churning wave through the water as Jet Stingray tore past him.

Jet Stingray didn't slow down, but he did arc and cut into a circling pattern. For anyone else it would have been a deadly risk, but he clearly knew his base and the support pillars in the water intimately, able to weave between them without a thought.

“Do you really think you can fight a war with no casualties, Hunter?”

The Repliforce Reploid's voice was crystal clear through water, clearly designed for just such a moment as this.

X adjusted his vocal emitter to use a different frequency so his voice would make sense in the fluid-space. “There have already been casualties. I am minimizing them.”

“We didn't sabotage the Sky Lagoon!”

“I wasn't talking about the Sky Lagoon.”

Jet Stingray actually did burst to a pause, his gaze sharpening at X in turn.

“Stand down. Order your men to do the same. This fighting is completely unnecessary. I agree that Repliforce was wronged, but this rebellion is the worst possible response!”

Stingray twisted, and started to blast straight for X again. In water, he was catastrophically fast. It was only the experiences of facing Boom Kuwanger, Overdrive Ostrich, and others that made it so matter-of-fact for X to dodge him.

“You have no right to judge our response!”

X spiraled into the water out to his left, just sliding out of Stingray's charge, his frame pulsing with the water pressure of the movement.

“I'll judge anything that endangers lives for anything less than protecting other lives!” X firmly called back, his feet just then floating down to the sand again.

Stingray snapped around, and ripped toward X much more abruptly. This time, however, X braced, folded, and snapped one arm up to deflect Stingray's charge.

Stingray didn't fly off, but ground his arm against X's, frustrated that the Hunter was somehow able to resist his force in the water.

“We're defending ourselves!”

“You started a war to escape! If you'd asked for help, if your Colonel had just stood down for a FEW MOMENTS, I could have made sure the council didn't harm your people! NOW, I need you to stand down! I need you to accept going into custody, so that I can end this insanity, and get whoever did slaughter all those people under the Lagoon!”

“We're fighting for our freedom just as much as our lives. We'll never bow just because you asked!”

X growled, and actually started to push Stingray back somehow.

 _How!?_ Stingray had to demand to himself. _He's not designed for subaquatic combat! It's just pure torque, but his tiny frame shouldn't be able to overcome my thrusters at this angle! Not unless..._ He glanced down, his eyes widening slightly.

One of X's legs was burrowing harder into the sand, the one bracing most of the force.

_Pure torque... His body can generate this much mechanical force in so small a frame!?_

“You're fighting...” X strained through his teeth, “the wrong... target... Bow today, so you can stand tomorrow!”

Stingray broke off sharply, jetting back, and snapping his arms out. Small, blade-like things flew out, and then dove to the sand before ripping across it, aiming for X's legs.

X had to leap into floating, watching the ground-cutters actually cut paths of air through the water where he'd been standing. Light-built or not, his body wouldn't withstand direct hits from that level of cutting precision.

Jet Stingray started to blaze around the perimeter beneath the surface, snapping off more and more cutters, allowing a handful to rip across without diving. They weren't as fast in free-flowing water, but that cutting edges were just as sharp.

X twisted, coiled, thruster-blasted, and rushed as he bought himself time to analyze the best way to deal with this onslaught without killing Stingray outright. If he could get Stingray to stay still...

Realization lit X's face, and he suddenly dove down, splitting his systems between his shield generator and charging. The cutters ripped in and slammed into his shield, making it flash, writhe, and flicker in various directions, but they weren't getting through. Yet.

At the same time, however, X started to draw in huge quantities of energy, streams of it gushing down into his limbs, his flanks, and over his head-plating. The heat and force of the power he was pulling in was flash-boiling the water it touched, leaving him the eye of a mad vortex of bubbles and blasting temperature waves through the depths.

Stingray knew the Hunter was up to something larger, and joined the fray directly once again. He roared as he rammed past once, twice, thrice, but X's shield was just enough to deflect him around the Hunter's body rather than a clean impact.

Abruptly, X ripped upward, thruster-blasting himself to the air leg-by-leg. Stingray started to rush up after him, but just as X burst clear, his colors shifted to whites and blues, and he wrenched his arms out.

In that timeless moment, Stingray was just breaking the surface, and his optics began to widen at the sudden outsurge of energy from X's frame. But it wasn't an explosion. It was somehow a snap-expansion of freezing temperatures. In mere seconds, the entire pocket of air contained by the walls was coalescing into ice crystals, each growing with tremendous speed into huge spikes.

Stingray recognized it. Frost Walrus' ultimate ice attack. Somehow this Hunter was manifesting it with a frame barely a fifth the size. The raw power required...

The ice boulder-spikes came crashing down. They didn't hit Stingray, but that also wasn't their goal. They hit the water and shock-froze it so abruptly that the ice crystals interlaced and smashed together, almost turning the water from 'floor' level to sandy bottom into solid ice... With Stingray caught mid breach.

Only one arm was free, along with his head and shoulders. Stingray tried to fire more cutters, but his firing mechanism was caught enough to be blocked.

X landed to a crouch on the ice, his frame misting slowly from residual cold. After a moment of cycling his respirator with air again, he straightened upright, and stepped closer to Stingray, looking down at him grimly.

“Order your men to stand down, Commander.”

It was clear the rank was intended as a weight on Stingray's conscience, but the Repliforce soldier didn't waiver.

“All units,” Stingray started rapidly, assuming X would try to cut him off, “command is compromised! Fall back to Web Spider's compound!”

X narrowed his eyes. “You know I can't let them reinforce other holdings.”

Zero's voice reached X urgently on private comms.

“X! I assume you heard that broadcast? We're starting to chase them down outside the walls, but there aren't enough of us!”

Stingray smirked. “Still think you can win this without the necessary sacrifices, Maverick Hunter?” The title was a retort in kind.

X's jaw clenched.

“X!?” Zero demanded more urgently.

X turned, starting for the doors. “Zero, rally your team to my current coordinates. Secure Stingray for custody. I'll handle the retreating forces.”

“...What?”

Zero had asked, but the confusion was written on Stingray's face as well.

X's voice was strangely distant this time. “Come collect Jet Stingray. I will handle the rest.”

In the command center of Maverick Hunter HQ, Alia was looking down at the comm-signal from X with a deep fear in her eyes. She knew what that quiet tone meant...

* * *

With the defending forces scattering, Spikesaw and Snapvice made short work of the closest perimeter gate. It was in shreds in seconds. They got back on their bikes just after the rest of Zero's force raced through, and took up the rear guard of the formation.

Cadis' eyes widened as she saw what waited for them.

X was like the eye of a storm. Tornadoes ripped out from him, tearing catwalks and barricades apart, igniting fields of mines. Grip-tethers and magnetic weapons kept snapping off, restraining different Repliforce soldiers to wreckage that was still afloat.

X arced over the field, his hover-bike nowhere to be seen. Rushes of plasma bolts from Ray-Splasher and Chameleon Sting punched through weapons and shields, leaving Repliforce members open to the grapple-magnet restraints he'd taken to using.

And all of that was in the few seconds it took for the two units and Zero to reach the central command hub. Cadis was faintly caught, watching Zero twist off his bike to stare toward X, while Tripwire, Deepfreeze, Overload, Spikesaw, and Snapvice all just charged for their objective. Volt Catfish, Blizzard Buffalo, and Cadis lingered similarly.

She'd always known X was powerful, but she'd uniquely seen his weakness as well. He'd been terribly damaged saving her life. This was... Her brow creased, and she looked back to see Tripwire holding the door for the others, then looking out to the team expectantly.

Finally running over, Cadis had to pause near Tripwire, touching his arm. His optics snapped to her attentively.

“You aren't shocked?”

Tripwire's optics tightened. “Commander X does what he has to do. Let's make sure we don't lose Stingray, hm?”

Cadis was clearly still concerned, but she nodded, and hurried inside.

Tripwire looked out, watching X vanish into thin air with camoflage, only to drop down onto a watch-tower and disarm multiple Reploids before restraining them.

Volt, Blizzard, and Zero finally turned to join the rest of their team, though Zero had a grim expression on his face.

Inside, Blizzard Buffalo and Deepfreeze were the only ones moving comfortable on the frozen chunk of ocean that was the current floor. Overload, however, looked up to Zero from being knelt behind Stingray, who looked furious, but was silent.

“Applied a neuro-motor blocker. He can't activate anything mechanical on his own frame right now,” Overload explained, tapping the little device he'd stuck to the back of Stingray's head.

Stingray finally spoke. “Did anyone get out...?”

Zero stood in front of him, looking down into his optics in a darkly intent manner. “No. No one is getting past Commander X. You really should have stood down.”

Cadis jerked as Stingray's roar of frustration resounded through the room.


	6. Rescue and Rails

The 'abandoned' laboratory now resembled a strangely alien garden of some kind, with cybernetic coils of planets replacing damaged walls and flooring, pod-like defense turrets, all mingled with cracked or dented metal structuring and concrete, with the occasional piece of exposed re-bar showing through.

A strange blob of shimmering air was slowly moving through one hallway. Parts of it grew out to the sides periodically to place small devices on the inside of doorway frames that were already open.

Internal comms were used inside the carefully moving bubble, especially as it passed under defend-bulbs.

“I hate cramped conditions,” Airstrike muttered sourly.

Shimmer's voice returned, “Oh stow it. You wouldn't be able to help us up in the sky any more than the camera we posted out there would.”

“He has a point, but this is cramped even by smaller frame standards. I can barely duck these defense turrets,” Inferno said.

Crush Crawfish rolled his beady optics inside the stealth field. “We theoretically need to be able to get several civilians out of here, so the more the merrier.”

Blast Hornet slowly paced along with them inside the field, his wings folded tightly down. “Not sure my drones will even do much good in quarters this tight.”

“They'll help, either way. We just need to block shots and run, if it goes to scrap,” Neon Tiger offered.

Shimmer suddenly jerked a hand back inside their bubble of warped air, “Mechaniloid patrol! To the walls!”

Inferno and Warp Turtle had the hardest time, but everyone quickly folded to the sides, Shimmer keeping his stealth field steady while also splitting it across the two sides.

Several strangely configured mechaniloids came rolling down the hall, essentially resembling robotic eyes with suction-cup legs that constantly traded on the surface they held to, letting them move along at a clip.

The two Maverick Hunter units paused their respirators and folded tighter still, letting the little swarm roll past.

Warp Turtle groaned slightly. “I hope the civilians are unharmed... and close by. This is becoming harrowing.”

Mapteron unfolded from the wall as they all started to move forward again. “One hopes. I am picking up strangely chaotic EM fields some meters ahead. Could be biosignatures mixed with a lot of equipment.”

“If we hit a sealed door soon, I'll scout,” Shimmer confirmed. “Hopefully this is it.”

After another awkward split around a passing patrol of sucker-star mechaniloids, they did reach a sealed doorway at last. Warp Turtle and Mapteron drifted forward to work on the access console, while Shimmer placed devices on either side of the hallway.

“These will keep a stealth field up for this area, while I scout. Just don't move too far from the walls, hm?”

Inferno, already squished against one bulkhead and nearly out of the field, just stared at the vague distortion he could tell was Shimmer.

“If everything goes to scrap,” Airstrike added, “I'll rush our exit path, see if there's any complications to warn you guys about. I'll use tight-beam.”

Warp Turtle saw that Mapteron had the console in hand, and looked over to Airstrike's portion of the distortion. “Sounds logical. And I volunteer myself for rear guard. I'm slower anyway, and my armor is thicker.”

“I'll pair with Warp Turtle,” Inferno confirmed.

Mapteron raised a hand. “Door ready.”

Shimmer nodded. “Plan agreed. Pop it.”

The door hissed and rushed vertically, exposing a fairly large laboratory chamber, with various slabs, stations, and storage units spread throughout. There were a few other doors leading out from the other walls, too.

Shimmer quickly shifted through, the opening, placing one of the devices they'd left along their path in the frame itself, and looked around quickly, his oblong optics adjusting.

Drawing closer to one of the slabs, he stopped, his expression fading grim. “Blood. Human. I'll check the storage units.”

The whole team grew more tense now that it was confirmed humans might have died here. Capture was enough, but...

Shimmer carefully moved up to one of the storage units, and found the controls on one side. It resembled a nearly-organic pod, but it was fully synthetic. Apparently the designer simply had a theme. Once a few controls were activated, the interior of the pod light up, revealing an unconscious human floating in green fluid, with re-breather and nutrient lines connected to their face. There were also marks of surgical cuts on some the human man's limbs and the torso.

“Human confirmed. Unconscious in the pod. I'll see if this is our total count here.”

Shimmer quickly moved along, checking other pods while the lab was, apparently, empty.

“We're short five, but this is everyone else just in here.”

“Is there a network hub in there?” Mapteron asked, his tone decidedly sharper now.

“Far side, opposite our entry.”

“I'll check it for information. The others may simply have been moved.”

“Copy.”

Mapteron shifted to manual stealth, snaking his body between consoles, slabs, and rails. The lack of security scanners was also disturbing to him. Setting that concern aside, he moved to the console Shimmer had indicated, and lifted up to start dealing with it's security systems.

“It's too easy to find bypasses on this. Pretty sure we're being baited.”

Shimmer eased down to a crouch. “And it won't be easy to transport the humans like this. I don't have enough medical data to confirm if we can safely remove them from the pods.”

Warp Turtle remained where he was, but responded, “Send me the data you have, Shimmer. I can assess.”

Mapteron and Warp Turtle got to work, the others tensely waiting for more patrols or something else to go wrong. The silence was grating, and each Reploids' mood was getting sharper by the second.

“...We have a problem.”

Everyone focused on Mapteron.

“Found the five others. They're moving. Toward this lab.”

“They have trackers implanted?”

“Among other things.”

Warp Turtle cut in, “It's safe to remove these humans from their pods. They'll still be out for hours.”

Mapteron shifted to one side of the doorway the signals were approaching. “Neon Tiger, Crush Crawfish, join me. We need to see if we can capture these survivors without injuring them.”

“Capture?” Tiger asked back.

“I think they're being puppetted.”

Shimmer shifted abruptly. “Airstrike, be ready to prep our exit. Inferno, Warp Turtle, Blast Hornet, want you on carrying duty. I'll back up Mapteron and company.”

Airstrike shifted into the center of the hallway, bracing. Inferno and Warp Turtle hurried to either side, starting to open pods and collect unconscious humans in their arms. Blast Hornet expanded his wings, and started to hover over, picking up the ones Warp Turtle and Inferno couldn't get.

“They're right here,” Mapteron muttered into comms, bracing more with the doorway.

And then the lights died all around them.

The Hunters were all veterans, they were switching to thermal and sonic scans immediately, but the doorway bursting open revealed something horrific anyway.

The five humans weren't really human anymore. Men and women, their bodies had been altered with plant-styled cybernatics, and razor-claws on one or the other arm started to swipe and lash at the Reploids, while single glowing optics blazed around the numbed faces that remained of their original bodies.

Mapteron, Neon Tiger, and Crush Crawfish had to stumble back while trying to grip the claw-arms to control them. Shimmer, rushed in between them, going for the modified legs that were partially covered in carapace-like plating and hydraulics.

Tripping one cyborg, Shimmer got on top of her, desperately searching for an input jack on the cybernetics he could use to disable them.

He had to freeze when the human parts of the face finally showed emotion, the watery eye pleading.

“It... hurts... please...”

It was a whisper of a voice, barely able to make it past the flailing robotic parts.

“...Warp Turtle, how--!?” Shimmer was cut off as he took a claw-swipe to the face.

He gasped, shivering from the pain as one of his optics was sliced apart, but he didn't crush on the cyborg. “...need a way to stop them moving!”

Warp Turtle took Shimmer's data-patch again, and scanned through it quickly while he, Blast Hornet, and Inferno charged for the exit near Airstrike.

“Get me a view of the back of the neck!”

Shimmer wrestled with the cyborg while Crush Crawfish did his best not to take limbs off, Mapteron took turns with his cyborg swinging each other into now-empty pods, and Neon Tiger tried a few blinding techniques with harmless flashes of his plasma weapons, only to be forced back and dodging by two of the cyborgs.

Finally, Shimmer grappled the claw-arm, and folded the poor woman onto her front as her body tried to fight them both. With a clear view of the back of her neck, he tried to hold it as long as he could for Warp Turtle.

“Damn them, the integration is deep,” Warp Turtle growled. “We can't risk damage to their nervous systems if we have any chance of helping them! Cut the servos at the joints!”

Neon Tiger snapped his claws out finally, and twirled down to a crouch. A shoulder of one, elbow of the other, and both their left hips sparked and ground harshly. He quickly added the right legs to his strikes, and the two he was facing crumpled down into awkwardly squirming masses on the floor. He instantly picked them up over his shoulders. “Got them!”

Mapteron pinned his cyborg to a pod with his tail, and used arm-blades to sever the main joint connections in a rapid flurry of strikes. Once limp, he coiled the cyborg into his tail. “Have this one!”

Crush Crawfish had a harder time. His claws were too massive for that kind of precision work. Instead, he pinned his foe to the wall using his claws at massive braces. “I need help!”

Shimmer used a surgical tool from his own storage case to snip servo fluid lines on his cyborg while he still had her pinned. The woman's pained whimper once the limbs stopped flailing didn't help his mood much, but he quickly rushed to Crush Crawfish's aid, doing the same, while dodging a few sharp kicks.

“You have this one!?”

Crush Crawfish nodded sharply, and hefted his cyborg over one shoulder, starting to rush over to Airstrike's position.

Shimmer picked up the cyborg on the floor himself, and started to join them. “Go, go, go!”

Airstrike was more than happy to do his part. “Gonna get loud, do not stop!” He didn't bother using comms anymore either.

With a leap forward, he took flight, both of his arms fully articulating out their missile launchers. Inferno, Warp Turtle, and Blast Hornet charged right through after him, with Neon Tiger, Crush Crawfish, and Mapteron only a second behind. Only Shimmer was lagging somewhat, vaulting over railings and slabs to catch up.

Sucker-wheel mechaniloids came charging up the hall as sirens started to blast throughout the complex now. As blast-shields tried to close down, they hit the devices the team had placed, and were shocked by a kinetic blast back into their own mechanisms. It effectively jammed them open.

Airstrike was not wasting time. He snapped his arms forward, and his targetting systems shifted to allow for explosions in such tight confines. If he hit anything closer than five meters, it would damage his allies and, most especially, their rescues.

So he unleashed. Volleys of missiles spiraled tightly down the hall. They didn't seem to be aiming directly for the mechaniloids, but the mystery was solved the next moment. Every impact point created a shockwave that was reinforced and cascaded into a spiral of fire, force, and shrapnel. The mechaniloids were either torn apart or thrown further down the hall by a firestorm... that was just fading as the Hunters team reached the same point of the hall.

Airstrike never stopped firing. He had to rely on his internal mapping system to aim with all the smoke and flame filling the hall ahead of them, but with the goal of a constant barrage pushing forward, he didn't need to account for mechaniloid positioning as much. The risk was if there really were any Reploids here, and if they tried to join the fray.

He wasn't as concerned about that with what he'd seen done to the humans.

Inferno crushed or kicked some charred wreckage out of his path as he ran with the others, his optics tightening at Airstrike's shape, silhouetted by a constant wave of explosions ahead of him. _He takes it personal, every time. No wonder he joined X first._

Shimmer heard his rescue whimpering quietly despite the explosions. She was clearly still in pain, and the violent pace of their flight couldn't help that. The tension in his face wasn't from his own pain as he kept running, but he just couldn't keep up as much as the others.

Blast Hornet glanced back, and then suddenly blasted backwards with his wings. Shimmer yelped, because he was knocked onto Hornet's thorax.

“Hold on,” Hornet rasped, before wing-blasting at full speed, closing the gap he'd just created around and behind the others.

Shimmer cycled his respirator, and tried to shift the cyborg with him into a more 'comfortable' position. He made the mistake of looking down into her pained... grateful expression. All he could do was nod, and look ahead.

At last, Airstrike blew out the last length of the hallway, and flew out into open air. He snap-coiled down to his feet, skidding back for several meters as they others came charging out.

“Dex! Telefield safe for organics on my position!”

“Copy! Bay 3 prepping, five seconds!”

Airstrike sharply waved to the others, who charged to his position. A few mechaniloids started to reach the end of the hallway, but it was Shimmer, who growled and snapped one arm across, firing off plasma blades that lanced through the entire line of mechaniloids just reaching them.

The next moment, they were bathed in blue light, and vanished.

* * *

X looked across the holo-map. It was global in this case, simplified, and highlighting key zones for Repliforce holdings or hot zones between Hunters and Repliforce soldiers. It was difficult to tell if he was exhausted or just morose.

Signas tightened his optics at X for a moment, then looked back to the operators. “Where are we with the supply rail tac-data?”

Alia half-turned her chair, though her own gaze flicked to X and back to Signas before she spoke, “Almost done. The main issue is that the defense lay-out of the hyper-train makes it very dangerous to attack from anything but the rear, and then you'd have to fight through their entire defense force.”

Zero was sitting against an empty operations console to Iris' right. He was technically supposed to be resting after his own mission with the other units, but no one was surprised at his choice of location. He looked to Alia himself. “Sounds like we just have to accept a certain amount of losses. If we don't cut that supply line soon, there's no point cutting it at all.”

X's brow creased, but he wasn't speaking yet.

The command center doors opened, and Dr. Cain came through. He was noticeably fatigued, and not just physically.

Most of the command center glanced to him, anxious, but it was X who actually looked over his shoulder to speak finally.

“Thank you for helping, Dr. Cain. What's their status?”

Dr. Cain cleared his throat as he drew up on the side of the holotable opposite Signas. “Most of the victims are just going to have a few scars. I've given them I.V.'s to help with the malnutrition. The five... cyberized individuals will... never have normal lives again. I'm working with Warp Turtle to find the most... life-friendly modifications to their cybernetics that will minimize strain on their nervous systems. Currently, they're just being kept unconscious and on pain-relief.”

X nodded faintly. “...Has Shimmer allowed himself to get repaired yet?”

“...No.”

Another nod. Then X looked up toward Alia, “I'll tend to the supply-train, but I would like Cadis for ranged support. I recall part of its route is circumventing a plateau?”

Alia's concern showed openly, but she answered, “That's correct. It would make an excellent sniper position for about fifteen minutes of the travel time. ...Commander, I don't think you should handle that yourself. It's a very high-risk mission.”

“That's precisely why,” X replied. He didn't sound angry, just matter-of-fact.

Alia slumped a bit, and turned back to the console. “We've got that network disruption isolated now, but there's nothing normal about it. The tech inside the server facility is... misbehaving.”

“Anyone hurt?”

“Not yet.”

“Issue an official warning and request for all personnel to stay away from that facility until we can deploy an investigation team.”

Everyone blinked at him.

“Wouldn't it make more sense to let network specialists handle this?” Signas commented softly.

X looked down at the map. “That network issue has been ramping up specifically during the Repliforce issues, just like that damn lab. We just can't spare the forces right now. We're already spread thin.”

Zero's brow creased. “You're so sure? Sounds awfully paranoid, X, and you're clearly stressed.”

Alia gave Zero a look for being so blunt. He just shrugged at her.

X didn't seem agitated out of his tired focus. “I'll be happy to be proven wrong. Later.”

Dr. Cain sighed. “There is another concern, I'm afraid.”

X looked to him.

“You've... been so successful at recovering Reploids without killing them that we're starting to run out of places to hold them.”

X looked to Alia. “Alia, can you please reach out to Wayward Industries? Let them know I'm calling in a favor.”

Alia raised an eyebrow, but nodded, and started adjusting something on her console.

Dr. Cain and Zero were openly curious.

“Don't they just make quick-fab homes for civilians?” Zero put words to it.

“With technology I gave them from Magna Centipede's super-computer facility,” X answered openly. “The only price was that if I needed emergency construction, they would handle it.”

Zero's eyes widened. Dr. Cain just seemed impressed, and didn't push more.

Iris' eyes widened at her own console, and she quick turned. “Commander, it's... it's my brother on comms.”

Everyone became alert. X straightened.

“Put him through, Iris, thank you.”

The holotable shifted to a model of Colonel's head.

“Maverick Hunters, I'm issuing a challenge. A chance to settle this matter with minimal loss of life. Send one of your best to face me, and if they should win, Repliforce will not threaten any further human territory. But if I win, your forces must retreat from our holdings.”

Iris clutched a hand to her core, her eyes watering. Zero glanced to her, then back to the hologram, his hand reaching to rest on her shoulder. It helped somewhat.

X was strangely neutral for such a startling statement. Dr. Cain, Signas, Alia, and Dex kept looking between him and the hologram, not sure how this was going to escalate.

Colonel continued after the pause he left. He smirked a bit. “Isn't that exactly what you wanted, Commander X?”

“As I told Jet Stingray and Frost Walrus, I only need your people to stand down for long enough for us to prove your innocence. You're still forcing my hand.”

Iris winced. “Commander...” she breathed, but didn't give voice to the rest of her plea.

Zero tensely glanced between her and X.

“Immaterial then,” Colonel brushed off the response. “Are you taking the offer or not?”

X bowed his head. “You'll have your fight, Colonel. Where?”

Signas tried to raise a staying hand, but X didn't look at him. Iris buried her face in her hands, and Zero moved his hand to her back, while glaring at X. He was clearly on the verge of snapping something.

“The amphitheater. Where our General declared his intentions. See you soon.”

And the line winked off.

Zero started to shout, but X cut him off with a calm statement.

“He's stalling.”

Alia blinked with everyone else, then quickly twisted to check her console. “...Confirmed, the supply rail just departed from the jungle compound! And the fleet's already gathering near the starport!”

X nodded a little. “Zero, I need you to take however many units we can deploy, and stop that train immediately. I'll keep Colonel distracted.” He started to twist away from the holotable.

Zero felt Iris' shudder, and he suddenly jerked forward a step. “Let me face Colonel, X!”

Everyone stared at him, including a shocked Iris.

“Why?”

“I know him, and the state you've left the last two Repliforce commanders in isn't going to help Iris' ability to focus.”

Iris squeaked... but also didn't correct him.

X glanced between Zero and Iris, something shifting in his eyes. Alia watched X with growing empathy.

“...Iris,” X started, focusing fully on her.

She straightened, clearly anxious. “Y-yes, sir?”

“Who would you prefer handled your brother?”

Dr. Cain raised an eyebrow, Signas and the others simply curious enough to keep watching.

Iris swallowed a lump, glancing between Zero at her side, and X near the door a few times.

“I... I would... ask Zero... to...” she just nodded, bowing her head.

X nodded to himself, and looked back across the room. “Change of plans. Alia, please alert Cadis. She'll be deploying with me as we discussed. Zero, your objective is keep Colonel distracted from the hyper-rail situation.”

Zero eased, nodding, and gave Iris a little pat before he bolted out of the room.

On the X-Hunter line, Signas asked, //You're not worried Zero will take it too far?//

//Normally, yes. He's doing this for Iris, however. I have to hope that will restrain him.//

* * *

Colonel calmly paced across the stage of the amphitheater. His beam saber was already out in hand, and his optics were scanning with intent focus.

“Colonel!”

His focus snapped up to the top of one of the pillars.

Zero stood there, his own saber out and burning.

“Stop the coup now, while there's still time.”

Colonel smirked, pointing his saber at Zero. “You know how to do that, Zero. I was expecting X, but facing you will be especially satisfying.”

Zero hopped down smoothly. “And why is that? Still sore after our sparring match when I recruited you?”

Colonel frowned. “I've honed my skills considerably since that battle.”

“So that'd be a yes,” Zero teased faintly with a little smirk. He wiped the expression from his face afterward, however. “You realize how badly you're hurting Iris with this insanity, right?”

Colonel growled, and rushed, his saber swiping.

Zero flowed to one side, but still met the blade, blocking and holding the impact. The conflicting plasma lights cast them both in stark relief as they glared over the crossed blades.

“You poisoned my sister against our cause. I've no anger toward her. Only YOU!”

Colonel forced the weapons down and away, aiming his elbow at Zero's chest. Zero folded, twisted, and planted his hand at Colonel's attacking elbow, using it to smoothly boost himself backward, out of slashing range.

“That's pretty insulting to Iris. You don't seem to believe she can think for herself.”

Colonel clenched his grip on his saber. “She has always been empathetic to a fault, especially for brooding, self-isolated egoists.”

Zero's face tightened a bit. “Explains why she still goes to bat for you, certainly.”

Colonel ripped forward again, roaring with exertion as his blade came rushing down. Zero could dodge it, but he opted to block it, bracing his legs. A searing blast resounded from the energy blades impacting once again.

“Lives are being lost, Colonel. Do you really think this is justified?”

“Freedom from tyranny is often worth fighting for,” Colonel growled back, and then shifted his weight to shove down and to the side.

Zero had to flip out with the shove, and then immediately block a follow-up slash to his middle. “We're on the same side regarding tyrants! If you'd just cooperate, this whole mess will get cleaned up faster!”

Colonel suddenly leapt backward, startling Zero, and unleashed three different waves of plasma from swipes of his blade. Zero folded backward under the first, hand-flipped over the second, and slashed down through the third to break it apart.

Looking up from the steam of the blast, Zero exhaled slowly. “You really aren't going to budge...”

* * *

Cadis ran out of her telefield, rifle gripped. Red-brown, sandy rock kicked up behind her boots, and then puffed out as she quickly dropped to her front amid a few rocks on the cliff-edge before her. With her optic-screen offering her a clean zoom-view, she could see the supply-train just leaving one of its cave tunnels on the West side of the promontory she was using for her perch.

“Target in the open,” she rasped into comms while scanning along the length of it with her zoomed view. “Heavy on-board defenses...”

The small army spread across the cars, some in ride-armor, supported by mechaniloid forces, didn't seem to slow X's response to the situation. Another telefield slammed down into the last car of the train. X himself stepped free, his systems taking data from Cadis and Alia to map the train ahead of himself.

Two ride-armors Repliforce soldiers slammed down onto the flat cargo-car ahead of him, their plasma blades igniting.

“Alone, Hunter? Bad call.”

X shook his head simply.

Two bolts rang out. The first ride-armor losing it's left leg at the knee, the other losing most of one arm. They both twisted to look to their side, trying to identify what had just hit them.

X took the loss of focus, and leapt to them, a stun-baton pulled from his back. Two quick jabs had the soldiers shocked offline. X yanked both ride-armors so they fell down safely onto the cargo car rather than over the edge.

“Cadis, good work. Exactly that type of support I need.”

It let her smile a bit from her cover position. “Just keep moving, okay? I've only got visibility for another... maybe five minutes?”

X's answer was thruster-blasting himself ahead.

Cadis wasn't sure how he was doing it, but her optic-screen got detailed pings for specific targets, between flying mechaniloid bats, defense turrets, and ride-armors, letting her know instantly which points X wanted her to hit.

And every time one of her shots rang out, X was flickering through the hole it made. He blasted mechaniloids apart, stun-jolted Repliforced soldiers, and finished off whatever turrets Cadis couldn't one-shot. He was strangely graceful, flowing through the air and along the cars equally, coiling, writhing, and striking with a level of coordination that couldn't really be matched as far as Cadis could estimate.

Combined with how X had handled the harbor-base under Jet Stingray, Cadis couldn't deny she was scared of him in a combat situation. He just couldn't be touched. But she'd also seen him get terribly hurt...

_Protecting me, taking hits for others. Is he really letting himself take so much damage just to avoid fighting?_

Her musing snapped to reality as she saw several defense turrets suddenly swerve toward her cliff.

“Cadis, move!”

X's voice rang in her receptors, but she'd already been rolling backward. Her position exploded into dust and small chunks of rubble that next instant, and she had to dive-roll repeatedly before the barrage stopped shattering her position.

“Cadis!?”

“Still here! Need a few to re-position!”

“...Copy.”

The relief in X's voice, while she could see him still threading through enemies like a needle, gave her a measure of relief. He was still that caring Reploid that had inspired her. He just was also... terrifying.

That was when she noticed something wrong about the car he'd just leapt down in front of. Parts of it were splitting open, with massive spikes articulating into ready positions.

“X! Behind you!”

Her comm hit his sensors a split-second before his own registered the threat. He snap-coiled into the air, narrowly bending just over the violent piston-ram of one huge spike that would have easily tore him apart on impact. The spike itself was nearly as big as he was.

Two other spikes ripped out, making him dodge to one side, then fold to the other.

As they retracted, it became more clear that the front of the previous car was a defense system, with a central spiking, and two rotating ones around it.

“Assumed ride-armor would be used to take the train, I see,” X muttered to himself.

A couple of shots from Cadis' position pinged off the armored plating of the spike mechanisms.

“Cadis, they're refraction molded alloys. Watch my back, I'll dismantle the weaponry.”

“Copy!”

X's colors shifted to brown, green, and yellow as energy surged into his frame. As one of the piston-spikes started to fire, he leaned into a dash, trimming his profile around the spike, sliding under it, and then leaping across to the railcar as his busters reconfigured into Tornado-Fang drills.

Cadis blew apart three different mechaniloids trying to ambush X from behind, while X dove into the railcar, his drills churning through the armored plating like so much soil.

Hydraulic fluid exploded out, chunks of metal went flying, and then the central piston collapsed down, X flipping over it to mash through the last spike's mechanics.

As that spike collapsed, X twisted with reverting colors, and saw the next tunnel zooming toward him.

“Cadis, thanks for the help. Can you get to a position that covers the next exit?”

“Yes, sir! ...Stay alive, okay?”

“I will. Alia's already angry enough with me this week.”

It let them both laugh a little before the tunnel overcame X's position and comms went to static.

* * *

Zero went on the offensive. He rushed up to Colonel, their blades colliding in a roaring storm of blocked strikes at different limbs.

“I see... X has... infected you... with his disdainful... tactics!” Colonel challenged between grunts of exertion.

Zero twisted, and went for a lunge straight at Colonel's lower abdomen. It wouldn't hit vital systems, but not swordsman would leave that to chance if on the defense.

Colonel did deflect it out, the two sharing a dark glare.

“X is calling the shots for now, but he's also not the only reason I'm here.”

Colonel frowned, and then slashed at Zero's neckline, who ducked and slashed back at Colonel's legs.

Colonel backflipped, skidding back on his feet with his sword ready as Zero straightened.

“Come on, Colonel,” Zero challenged firmly. “Your sister loves you. You have to know how much this mess is hurting her. The Hunters have no desire to shut Repliforce down. We just need a temporary stand-down. We'll be on the same side.” Zero snapped one hand out, “We're not even supposed to be the ones hunting you down if you did go rogue!”

Colonel slowly straightened, since it was clear Zero was holding back for the moment. “So you admit to being the humans' lapdogs.”

Zero slumped. “Is that really all you got out of what I just said?” His dismal tone would've been absurd for the situation if it wasn't so sincere.

Colonel raised his sword, energy crackling over his frame. “It's the only part that's relevant!” And then he rammed his blade down into the ground.

Zero's eyes widened, and he leapt backwards first. The energy stormed across the floor like a shock-wave. Zero had to leap straight-up again, only to realize the energy was going to discharge upward from dozens of different points along the expanse of the wave.

Desperately thruster-blasting form his boots, Zero barely dodged between two storms of power. The energy finally dissipated, and Zero flipped down to his feet, glaring up at Colonel with a much harsher focus in his eyes.

Colonel braced back, ready to snap-draw his blade to unleash plasma waves again. “I'll not suffer you to hold back, Zero! I would've expected you to want nothing less!”

Zero's brow twitched faintly. “Dammit, Colonel, I don't want to kill Iris' brother! Would you just STAND DOWN, for once in your damn life!?”

“Presuming you'd win!” Colonel retorted, and suddenly thruster-blasted forward himself. It was a full-speed rush, his frame flickering across the gap between them.

Zero's expression clenched into a dark visage of focus just before he also flickered. In place. Snapping from a leaned brace to a standing position, his sword out, back, and up. His optics were closed, and his ponytail only just then burst to one side from the wind-shock of his own action.

Colonel's optics flared as his slash-charge was rammed aside so violently he actually flew back several meters.

Only then did Zero's optics split open again, burning into Colonel's gaze.

“You don't spar with lethal intent, Colonel. Neither of us has seen the other's full power. If you were the great warrior you see yourself as, however, that defense shouldn't have shocked you.”

Colonel slowly straightened, a much darker anger etching through his features as well.

A telefield snapping down between them made both jerk, assuming some kind of trickery on the other's part.

But it was Iris who poured out of it, her hands already out to the sides.

“PLEASE, STOP!!!”

Zero shivered, barely registering Signas' voice in his comms.

“Sorry, Zero... she was out before we could even catch her.”

Colonel calmed to a simply grumpy expression, watching for the moment. Zero did seem frozen, so Iris' please seemed to have been obeyed, one way or the other.

Iris, her face anguished, turned to Colonel first. “Brother, please... don't you at least remember? Zero saved my life.”

Colonel's manner flattened, but he did seem to glance between Iris and Zero more calmly as well.

Zero faintly slumped his stance. “Iris, we need your brother to stand down. I can't just drop this.”

Iris looked to Zero with tears in her eyes. “You know he won't stand down. It's not in him to!”

Zero clearly wanted to argue back, but he stayed himself. She was in so much pain already. His head bowed, and he slowly straightened out of his stance.

Colonel made a little grunt of annoyance. “I suppose I'll spare your life for now, Zero. But my debt is now paid.”

And with a flicker backwards, he teleported out of sight.

Iris fell into a heap, shaking and sobbing.

Zero ran to her, his sword finally away, and he crouched down. At first, he wasn't sure what to do, but the moment his hand gently rested on her back, she twisted into a vice-like embrace. It shocked him for a pulse, and then he relaxed into hugging her.

“...I'm so sorry,” she strangled out. “...Thank you...”

Zero closed his eyes, and just held her tight.

* * *

In the somewhat flickering lights of the rail tunnel, X paused for a beat to glance around, assessing his options. Bat-bomb mechaniloids were closing on his position, and he saw two different ride-armor Reploids working their way over storage crates toward him as well. With the speed of the train, and the distance he knew from mapping data, he would be isolated for two or three minutes. An eternity in a situation like this.

A thruster-blast sent him forward, and he hand-flipped over one crate to pulse-blast two of the bats. They exploded safely out from the train, though the rubble they caused to fall concerned him.

Ducking a plasma-blade from the first ride-armor, X snapped-off pulse-shots at more of the mechaniloids above. Three of them exploded as intended, but one he nicked on the gripper, and it dropped its bomb straight down toward the second ride-armor.

X focused urgently, and booster-leapt straight to the ride-armor's 'head'. The Reploid panicked for a second, trying to pull a hand-weapon free, only to halt and watch X claw-grip the bomb and throw it to one wall for it to explode away from the Reploid.

The other ride-armor had spun around by this point, but was awkwardly halted, leaned to lunge-attack, but watching.

X looked down at the Reploid gawking up at him. “You going to stand down?”

The soldier grimaced, and finally got his pistol free, aiming up at X. “You can.”

X just looked grim still, and he back-flipped. The pistol went off, though it missed. X landed briefly, only to spring between the same ride-armor's chest, back to the other pilot, where he slammed a stun-jolt into the solider's neck.

With that armor crashing down harmlessly, X sprang back to the other pilot, deflected his pistol to one side with a hand-slap, and neck-jolted him as well.

Flipping off to continue down the train, X watched two different heavy defense turrets lift into view and rotated to aim back at him, plasma charges building in their barrels.

With no Reploid lives in danger, X built power over his frame. He leapt over one ripping blast from the turret, and landed with a spiral of his frame, snapping off one arm's blast, then the other. It flash-melted chunks of that traincar, but only destroyed the turrets, nothing below.

Leaping past the burning wreckage, X flitted across more cars, snapping shots off at a few other mechaniloids.

Further ahead, he saw that a few Repliforce soldiers were working on cutting the connection between their car and the previous. X built power once again, his colors shifting to pale hues of green. After a few more leaps, he suddenly burst into shimmering colors... vanishing from view.

“Cut it, cut it!” one soldier snapped as he tried to re-track where the Hunter had vanished to. “I've got no visual!”

“These were never supposed to separate! It's armored metal!” the one with the plasma-cutter growled up at his comrades.

“Do you want Slash Beast's temper, because I don't!”

“Is he really that bad?”

The new voice from behind them made all three soldiers twist sharply... only just able to spot the distortion in their wake.

They tried to bring weapons up, but X shimmered into view as he punched one arm away, kneed the other Reploid, and chopped down into the center Reploid's shoulder, shocking the joints. All three weapons flew off or clattered down under the train, lost from use.

With another flurry of attempted blows, X writhed between the soldiers' counters, and stun-jolted each of them. He had to grab the cutter from falling off, and lay them all down neatly at the end of the car before he hurried along.

It didn't take long for X to have the control-car in sight. He flipped down from one car, landing smoothly on a large, open platform car. It seemed empty, but was likely intended for transporting heavy vehicles or major construction equipment.

The moment X boosted forward, however, he had to skid to a halt as none other than Slash Beast himself came spin-flipping out of the driving car.

Likely modeled after a wolverine, Slash Beast was a towering Reploid, with long, bladed claws off his feet, hands, and joints. Likely with his name in mind, his frame had a spiky main of hair leading off the head, complimentary to his brown and gold frame.

“Didn't think we'd meet like this, after everything, X.”

X bowed his head slowly. “This would be on my worst outcome list, yeah.”

“You have a list of them, hm?”

They both knew Slash Beast was stalling, but X was trying to estimate why. In a few seconds, he'd have support from Cadis again, but wouldn't Beast know about his sniper support by this point?

“Sadly, yes. Surely, you're willing to consider just standing down? You know I don't want to hurt you for no reason.”

Slash Beast shrugged, and then snapped his fingers.

X jerked, his scanners flaring as he detected several objects moving above him.

It wasn't an attack. Instead, the top of the tunnel opened up, flawlessly timed to unload armored crates down onto the platform car, all around X and Slash Beast.

In a few seconds of thunderous clangs and crashes, they were in a highspeed arena, cut off from the rest of the tunnel.

And a beat later, sunlight flashed over the top of their arena.

“The problem, X, is that you're not the only person who stuck their neck out for me. Do you really think I'd stand down if you'd asked me to guard this train for you?”

Cadis' voice came on comms, “X! Where are you!?”

X clenched his fists. //Cadis, we're inside the crate wall. If we reach the threshold line, I want you to blow out the train's engine.//

“X, that could derail the entire thing.”

//I'll make sure it doesn't.//

Aloud, X replied, “Slash Beast, you know I would only ask you to protect something if lives were at stake. If you stop this train with me, you will be saving lives, not endangering them.”

“The humans trying to kill us all says otherwise.”

Slash Beast slid down into a braced stance, energy building over one of his fists.

“I am sorry it's you, but I'm not backing down.”

X's face shivered, water brimming in his eyes. “Please don't do this...”

Slash Beast's response was to charge, though he remained grim-faced. His body was built for this kind of fight, and he was hurtling at X with flickering force, his colors staining the air.

X twisted and folded to one side, his reactive shielding flaring around Slash's plasma-enhanced claw. Their eyes locked in that frozen moment, neither losing that grim visage.

Flipping over himself, Slash skidded with sparks flying from his massive feet-talons, only to spring back at X with a spinning arc-kick that doubled as a slash in and of itself.

X folded under the kick, then had to twist out to avoid a backhand claw, flowing into a side-flip hand-stand over a sweeping kick of the other leg.

Seeing X was intent on playing for time rather than pressing the offensive, Slash Beast nodded to himself. He suddenly backflipped high into the air, but when he snapped his legs up, over himself, plasma waves were unleashed like massive blades unto themselves.

X had to leap back, recalculate, and then twist, writhe, and dive between the plasma waves. He looked back sharply as they burrowed deep into the metal crates between him and the drive-car.

“I can't go easy on you, X; you better start going hard yourself!”

Slash Beast twisted on his hands, spinning faster, while lashing out in rapid succession with each foot. Plasma-slices filled the air, radiating out and digging into every surface around the make-shift arena.

This forced X to whirl into a frenzy of dodging acrobatics, his shield still warping around the closer shaves of some of the slices he had to coil himself around to avoid others.

It was a formidable onslaught, but with a fundamental weakness X intended to utilize. In a few seconds, all of those metal crates would be torn completely through, and collapse out, exposing their fight to Cadis' aim.

However, just when a few lines of crates would've toppled, Slash Beast halted, and ripped toward X with his glowing claw again.

This time, X twisted, but his arms snaked out, and he actually drove Slash's attacking arm up to one side with his bare hand.

The surprise halted Slash, but his optics flicked from X's own to their meeting limbs as the energy from his plasma claw started to cascade down into X's forearm.

“You don't fight like Neon Tiger anymore. I'm glad,” X offered quietly.

Slash Beast looked back to his eyes. “That's what Repliforce gave me. The chance to become myself.”

X twitched. Slash could see it. X understood how vitally important that fact was to him.

“...Sorry, X. I've no other choice. I can't just let go of what they gave me.”

“No... no, you can't,” X whispered, his throat thick.

Slash Beast sharply moved back. With how honed they both were for a fight, it was all but a warning aloud of his intent to attack again.

X dove aside to avoid the arc-kick of talons, then had to fall into a quick series of back-steps to avoid the follow-up flurry of snap-kicks Slash used to keep him off balance deliberately.

X's colors shifted to near fuchsia with dark blue hints, his busters snapping into form.

In a sudden rush of impact, Slash Beast's high right kick exploded around a ground-cutter, the talons on his foot exploding off like shrapnel. The follow-up mid-kick met the same fate. Slash Beast snarled, more desperately driving his right claw through at X's center mass, but X twisted out of it, and fire a cutter across the limb. Key servos were severed, as well as a power line for the plasma emitter.

Slash Beast had to stumble away, his feet unbalanced with the sudden lack of talons, and holding his right arm at his middle as he finally dropped to one knee.

The crates, barely stable already, started to finally crack through, and collapsed outward, scattering off the sides of the rails below.

X stepped up to Slash Beast calmly. “Please, stand down.”

Slash Beast bowed his head, but his other arm, hidden from direct view, started to glow.

Cadis could see them now. Her scanner snapped from the drive-car to the fight, and locked onto Slash Beast.

X started to look aside, reaching to touch his audio-receptor, and that was when Slash Beast started to lunge for him, burning claw out.

Cadis' core froze in her chest, and she instantly knew she had no time to hesitate. She fired before X would be stabbed in the back.

But then something happened that made both Slash Beast and Cadis freeze in shock in equal measure.

X flickered, twisting, one arm deflecting Slash's attack down to one side... while the other put itself in the way of Cadis' shot just to the right of Slash Beast's head. It worked... but X's arm blew apart like a melon of metal, shrapnel scratching across both of them.

Slash Beast stared up at X, watching the absolutely rigid focus in his face, the optics staring down through the world. It had taken everything X had to react that fast.

Cadis held a hand to her mouth. //Oh Light, X, I'm so sorry!//

X only then gained humanity in his expression again. //You did nothing wrong,// returned to Cadis softly, while his eyes locked onto Slash's again. “Please, stop.”

Slash Beast slowly looked to the sparking, fluid-leaking stump of X's arm, then back to his face with a wan smile. “Looks like I owe you my life again. I guess I can surrender for that.”

X finally breathed softly, and looked back just as the drive-car started to halt at long last. Slash Beast had transmitted the codes.

Looking back to Slash, he nodded softly. “Thank you.”


	7. It's a Jungle Out There

There was a flurry of activity in Maverick Hunter HQ once the supply train was stopped. Dozens of Repliforce soldiers were taken into custody, various armament and mechaniloids were put into secured storage, and one particular teleporter bay had Slash Beast, X, and Cadis arrive together.

Alia was there herself, and as several Hunters moved over to secure Slash Beast and move him along, Cadis was just as quick to move to X's side.

X looked utterly exhausted, standing there with one arm just a fragmented stump, though no longer sparking or leaking thanks to internal repairs cutting off the damaged flows.

Cadis froze, not sure what to do as Alia rushed up, but tears were dripping down her face.

“Oh Light, X...” Alia groaned, ill for his pain, her hand hovering near his damaged limb. “W-what happened!?”

X lifted his eyes, and actually smiled. It was tired, but sincerely warm, and his remaining hand gripped Alia's shoulder. “I'll be fine. Cadis helped save Slash Beast's life.” And with that he looked to Cadis, who was now painfully confused as much as guilty.

“X-X, I blew your arm off!” Cadis burst out, near sobbing.

Alia was horrified, but what anger would have formed dissipated for seeing how distraught Cadis herself was.

X shook his head. “You protected me. You did exactly what you were supposed to do.” He stepped to her, his hand lifting to cup her cheek. “And if you hadn't, I might've had to hurt Slash very badly to get him to surrender. Cadis, I am so grateful you did what you did.”

Cadis was lost in emotional confusion. She wanted to be relieved, but her guilt was so potent she was left choking on tears.

X actually leaned in to hug her with one arm, and she was returning it mostly from instinct. Her lost eyes looked to Alia while X hugged her.

Alia actually started to relax somewhat, and just offered a gentle smile back to Cadis, nodding.

X only then pulled back. “Please remember this. I know you, I know how terrible you feel for this. I am grateful. You did nothing wrong. Say that, please?”

Cadis swallowed hard, managing a weak, “...I did nothing wrong...?”

X nodded. “Exactly. And if you weren't so precise, and so reliable of a shot, I might've gotten it wrong. You did the right thing. Don't forget it.”

Cadis was shaking, but nodded, glancing between the two, clearly too lost to really move herself in a given direction.

Alia offered, “Cadis, take downtime. You need to rest, and X will be happy to talk to you later, too, right?”

X nodded.

Cadis swallowed, nodding awkwardly, jerking her motions, and suddenly just twisted, forcing herself to march out of the telebay.

X finally gripped at his damaged limb. “I need to make sure this doesn't haunt her.”

Alia put an arm across his shoulders, gently guiding him out of the room. “You will... for now, I need to make sure you get repaired.”

* * *

Cadis was in the armory. She appeared to be dismantling and cleaning her rifle, but the sniffles and occasional shifts of her frame made it clear why she was really hiding, alone in an isolated part of the base. As she wiped her optics for the nth time, she heard something shift behind her. It really only made her shuffle a little to hide her face more, the armory was just not busy, not a hidden area.

“So what's got you so jumbled up?” Tripwire's specifically smooth voice trailed behind her, and she felt the weight shift of him plopping onto the same bench as her.

Cadis sniffed. “Report's in progress...”

“Come on, kid. Talk to me.”

Her hands wound tight around part of the barrel she was cleaning. “I hurt him...” strangled out of her throat.

“Hurt who?”

“X!” She folded sharply with the force of the clarification.

Tripwire nodded to himself. He knew X was in medical, but he also knew the mission had been a success. “No one thinks you'd hurt him on purpose, Cadis. Talk it through. What happened?”

Cadis finally put down the part of her rifle and twisted to look at Tripwire, anguish clear on her face as much as her voice. “If I hadn't taken a shot, he'd still have an arm! Light, I can still see it flying apart in my head!” she groaned, gripping her head and squeezing.

Tripwire reached out, holding her shoulders. “Whoa, now... easy, Cadis. Keep talking, just push through it... What were you shooting at?”

“Slash Beast! Which isn't much better! I knew X wanted him taken as unharmed as possible! I just... I just panicked! I saw Slash Beast going for a strike at X's back. It was going to be too fast! I fired, aiming for the primary neural network in the neck, but somehow X was even faster! His arm took the shot, and he stopped Slash's attack! I just—I...”

As she fell into sobs, Tripwire hesitantly eased closer to embrace her. She sank against his shoulder, quaking with her continued grief.

“Sounds like you were just looking out for him,” Tripwire offered quietly after a few minutes.

Cadis clenched. “He practically said that, too, but I... I can't... I really hurt him, Tripwire!”

“Was he upset with you?”

“...No, but he never gets upset with anyone!”

“Now that's just not true, Cadis. You've seen X snap at people he thinks did wrong, especially with lives on the line. Haven't you?”

She sniffed, thinking for a few seconds. “I... I guess.”

Tripwire finally leaned back to find her eyes. She looked a bit pitiful, but was looking up to him in return.

“If X didn't say there was a problem, then it means you obviously did your best, and he just reacted on his own call. It means he knows he made things hard for you, kid. And you did good. You gotta believe that.”

“I shot his arm off!”

“And if he doesn't blame you for that, it means he kinda deserved it, kid.”

Cadis blinked, staring at Tripwire. “...What?”

“If he didn't even try to say anything to you about aiming better, or holding your shot, or anything like that? It means he knows he put himself in the way of you doing your job. It's what he does, yeah, but it also very much means you're okay. You didn't blow his arm off. He blew his own arm off, by choice, to get something done.”

Cadis blinked several more times. “He... he did say it helped him... but I...”

Tripwire lightly snapped one set of fingers, and pointed at her. “Bingo. Now, obviously, you need to talk to X when he's up on his feet again, but seriously... you're okay.”

Cadis sniffed, and finally smiled a little. “...Thank you, Tripwire.”

He smiled in as much as his face would let him. “No problem. See you around, hm?”

She nodded as he stood up. She started to turn back to her rifle, taking a fresh breath.

“...Tripwire?”

“Yeah, kid?”

“...Why do you always look out for me so much?”

Tripwire paused this time, his optics tightening. “...You're the heart of the unit, kid. We all notice, when you're feeling down.”

“The rest of the unit isn't here checking on me,” Cadis calmly pointed out with a mild smile.

Tripwire chuckled, lifting his hands in defeat. “I might have a soft spot for ya, kid. Stay sharp, alright?”

Cadis nodded, letting him leave, but she was left feeling thoughtful, looking at his wake.

Unknown to her, Double was crouched down against some armory containers only a few meters away. He'd been laid back, almost dozing, but as the conversation between Cadis and Tripwire ended, his eyes slid open, and he smiled thinly.

* * *

Signas rubbed along his chin-armor as he looked across the hologram view of the various Repliforce holdings still in play. Zero, Dr. Cain, and Alia were on the other sides of the table, with Iris and Dex handling most of the moment-to-moment operations needs.

“With X down again, we need to maintain momentum, but I'll admit I'm conflicted on where best to focus,” Signas finally said aloud.

Zero had a somewhat dour manner about him, but his voice was even and collected. “How about those side issues, the network hub and the lab, any specific updates?”

Alia glanced to Dr. Cain first, who soberly adjusted his cane.

“The lab itself is quiet enough thanks to our perimeter teams, but the cyborg victims are... a tragic situation.”

Signas focused on Dr. Cain fully. “Can they not be helped?”

“Not enough. The others, the ones just held, only have some surgical scarring, nothing damaged beyond that now. The cyborgs, however, are... going to be paraplegics if we remove the cybernetics. And most of them will be brain damaged. They were... butchered.”

Zero took a breath. “Still, sounds like nothing we can action immediately. Shouldn't we focus elsewhere?”

Signas held a hand up to pause him, getting a curious look from all three.

“Dr. Cain, what options would you put on the table for the cyborgs?”

The aged human tipped his head, “I believe I can modify the cybernetic cerebral elements to properly fill in the gaps for the lost brain tissue, allow them to return to functional adults, though with obvious memory damage. However, there's no indication they would want to remain cyberized.”

“Are any of them able to make decisions for themselves, or do you medically estimate they don't have the reasoning capacity for their own interests?”

“They're on the cusp. The more complex the issue, the less likely they are to fathom its ramifications.”

“And if we gave them a choice between being able to decide later, or remaining as they are for now?”

Dr. Cain glanced off. “Hm. Modify their cerebral cybernetics so they can make an informed decision for themselves. Yes... Yes, I believe I could get reasonably informed consent for that.”

“Please get started.”

Dr. Cain nodded, and shuffled out as quickly as was healthy for him.

Alia looked between Zero and Signas next. “With the supply train halted, we bought some measure of time. The server hub issue is... strange. It has locked itself down, but no one was inside anyway, and that facility doesn't have any kind of weaponry or manufacturing capacity.”

“Does it have classified data?” Zero checked instantly.

“Nothing serious enough to be a threat. It was just a civilian server node initially.”

“And we can't breach it?” Signas confirmed.

“Not safely. The whole building is overcharged now. The only way to really tackle the problem would be via network, and that would fundamentally endanger whatever connected to it.”

“Then we leave that one be for now. Where is Repliforce's fleet concentrated?”

“The starport for now. It retreated with the fall of the train.”

“So then the jungle facility is more exposed?” Zero checked, an eyebrow up.

Alia nodded. “No air support at least, yes. Dangerous approach, regardless, though.”

Signas gestured, “Tap Shimmer. He's our best jungle scout. We just need to know enough about defense systems in place to properly deploy.”

Alia saluted. “Yes, sir!” and she hurried back to her console.

Signas turned to Zero more fully. “It's been a busy day. What is your assessment of Colonel?”

Zero side-glanced to Iris as she stiffened in her seat. He answered, “Colonel believes in what he's doing. It will likely require... restraint to bring him in unharmed.”

Iris scrunched up, but refocused on her work.

Signas nodded. “Understood. And the offer of surrender if he was defeated?”

“He wouldn't view the outcome as defeat, but honestly, he was just buying time. I think we threw him a curve-ball by taking out the train, at least.”

“...Good enough, then. You'll likely be at the head of the jungle compound mission. Objections?”

Zero shook his head. “Tearing through some mechaniloids would do me good.”

* * *

Dr. Cain arrived in his lab, which now resembled a med-bay, only to focus sadly on Shimmer. The X-Hunter hadn't left the cyborg woman's bedside since returning with his team from the rescue operation. Warp Turtle was further off, at one of the medical consoles. He was apparently already resigned to letting Shimmer look on, and simply gave Dr. Cain a nod of greeting.

After returning that nod, Dr. Cain focused back on the other Reploid with, “You seem to take their situation very personally, Shimmer.”

Shimmer shifted slightly, but didn't look away from the cyborg. “Killing people is enough of a crime. But this...? This is... worse.”

Dr. Cain moved over to one of his nearby consoles. He sent a few files over to Warp Turtle, who read them quickly, and then started working on them himself. Dr. Cain returned his focus to Shimmer.

“I've no reason to argue. Yet, still, you seem particularly affected.”

“...She asked for help.”

Warp Turtle paused, remembering that poignantly.

Dr. Cain raised an eyebrow. “...You're certain?”

“Utterly.”

Warp Turtle quietly added, “Confirmed.”

Dr. Cain glanced to his screen. _To actually get anything through the controls in place..._ “...I'm glad you listened so fervently.”

Shimmer twitched his head, then touched his audioreceptor. “...Copy, deploying momentarily.” He replied to whatever message he'd received aloud, and then slowly turned to Dr. Cain. “Is she ever going to have a chance at normalcy?”

“...No. But I intend to do my best to make sure her will regains control of her... body.”

He also glanced a little to Warp Turtle, who just nodded sagely. They were on it.

Shimmer was silent for a moment, then nodded, and marched for the doorway.

As it closed in Shimmer's wake, Dr. Cain had to pause for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose. “...I'd hoped Reploids would be so compassionate... but at what cost did my work bring that about?”

“One didn't cause the other, Doctor.”

Warp Turtle's calm response earned a softly stunned stare from the aged human, but he found the Reploid focused on his work. Dr. Cain nodded to himself, and joined that effort.

* * *

X knew he was in the repair pod, but details were cloudy for him at first. His arm would need time. What had damaged it? That sparked the flood of consciousness. His eyes snapped open inside the pod, and he glanced down to see his arm being slowly rebuilt. His repairs were always among the slowest, since the system had to interpret Dr. Light's designs from X's own system. He wouldn't let the storage banks keep copies of his systems.

Something else woke up within him, however. Signals. More capsules. With all the madness around, he'd not even considered that Dr. Light's planted support modules would react to how stressed X was.

Closing his eyes again, X let the signals work with his mapping system in his mind. One was nestled somewhere near the jungle compound he recognized as Web Spider's area of control. Another was... hovering over the space port. Perhaps Repliforce had found a capsule and secured it on a ship? A third was in the volcanic geo-thermal plant where Magma Dragoon was reportedly hiding. And... the network hub? That made absolutely no sense.

Regardless, his arm needed more time. X shifted his focus to patching into Maverick Hunter HQ's database, so he could catch up on what was going on. He saw the current deployment plans.

//Alia?//

//X?! You should be resting!//

//Sorry, just need to know; how long before Zero deploys?//

//...Once we get Shimmer's report, basically. Probably a few hours?//

//Thank you.//

//X, please, you need to heal properly...//

//I'll heal as much as I can...//

Alia let the connection end, and just paused to pinch the bridge of her nose in the command center. “Won't be surprised if my synthetic hair turns gray at this rate...”

* * *

Zero eased down into a crouch amidst the brush beneath the low-hung, thick jungle canopy. It was so humid even his metal frame was dripping with condensation. Keeping himself low-profile, he emitted a coded ping within his vicinity.

//Yeah, I'm above you,// Shimmer's voice replied on internal comms.

//Good. Have the rest of Unit 14 hanging back with Unit 53. Read your report. Recommendations?//

//Regardless of approach, we're going to get bottle-necked where the base recedes into the giant trees. Even with fliers, there's just only so many ways to approach without time-consuming armor breaching.//

Zero frowned. His optics couldn't catch much through the thick plant-life, so he internally went over the holographic map that Shimmer's scouting had detailed. //And the base's population is large enough that we can't really risk drawing them all out, especially in their favored environment.//

//Exactly. The amphibious humanoid mechaniloids they filled in their numbers with are smarter than standard. I suspect Web Spider upgraded them with superior networking machinery.//

//...With X's standing orders in mind, are they smart enough that we should capture instead of destroy?//

//No, they're not emotionally conscious. Just have very robust response tree databases. Few steps behind a real Reploid or clone.//

//How the heck did you figure that out?//

//Watching them interact. There's no camaraderie or unnecessary communication, and no shift changes. Anyone conscious enough would be complaining at SOME point.//

//Fair enough. So it seems to me that we need to punch through hard and fast. We have to isolate and neutralize Web Spider before he can drown us in his mechaniloids, which will help us balance the scales against the Repliforce soldiers in his command.//

//I can't offer better yet, sir.//

Zero shifted upright, reaching to the handle of his saber. “All Hunters, we're going for a blitz-strike. Punch through, keep moving, isolate commander. Enemy targets have superior response programming, don't treat them like standard defense bots.”

Airstrike, Inferno, Crush Crawfish, Quickman, Barrel, Gravity Beetle, and Tunnel Rhino all sounded off sharply, and started to charge forward from several meters behind Zero's position.

Shimmer materialized near Zero, and joined the crimson Reploid in charging forward, weapons drawing and charged.

Other than Quickman and Airstrike, the team saw how difficult it was to move through the terrain at the necessary speed, and sensors already showed closing opposition.

Barrel and Tunnel Rhino shared a glance, nodded, and then smirked in similar manners before they both bolted ahead at full speed, their rolling-shields and tornado-fangs revving to full digging power.

Zero blinked as the two blasted open paths in their wakes. Messy, but it was better than flattening the entire jungle. He snapped his blade forward. “Each unit, form up behind one of them! Cover their flanks!”

Airstrike dove down, vortex blasters snapping out at several of the blade-finned, staff-wielding mechaniloids that were starting to leap and flit through the jungle toward them. He raised an optic ridge as he saw them twist-coil or juke out of the paths of his blasts, returning fire with snap bolts from either ends of their staves.

“You weren't kidding about the mechaniloids!”

“I really wasn't!” Shimmer called back, firing off splitting bolts at a few others to keep them off Barrel's side.

Tunnel Rhino had to punch one of the mechaniloids charging at his position, and let his tornado fangs rip it apart as he kept on rolling. Barrel fired an extra rotary-shield every few seconds to blast apart the occasional one that leapt to block his path.

Zero actually missed a couple of swipes at one mechaniloid, his eyes sharpening in frustration. “Fine, but it's not over yet.”

He whirled into a higher speed, and sliced that mechaniloid in half, as well as a partner that was trying to join it from just behind it. As their parts fell down with glowing stumps, Zero had to spin, twist, and invert his blade and body to help deflect or destroy several glowing spade-like blades that were trying to dig into Tunnel Rhino's flank.

“Well that's new...”

“It's from their fins!” Airstrike answered, diving tightly to just over his comrades heads, and sending out a vortex to his right, barrel-rolling, and adding another to his left. Several glowing blade-bolts were scattered away by his effort.

And it became more obvious he was right as several more mechaniloids came flipping in from the sides, their back-fins snapping off glowing blades like shurikens or throwing daggers.

Inferno reached out with his large hand and crunched the neck and shoulder of one mechaniloid, then swung it up and around, soaking up several blade-bolts with it. “Trying to avoid burning the jungle down on top of us!”

Crush Crawfish was simpler in his approach. Mechaniloids had to either flip away from him, or be pinched into pieces with sharp jabs from his massive claws. His whipping whiskers even helped stun or distract a few for easier slicing.

“I'm a bit similar to Inferno's issues here. I didn't realize were trying to minimize collateral damage to plants!” Gravity Beetle shouted in complaint as he used focused gravity blasts and his bladed horns to smash or ram mechaniloids away.

Zero sliced through another few mechaniloids, then boosted back into Barrel's wake. “Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were professionals!”

“Ahem.”

Quickman softly cleared his throat as he flickered into clear view between the two paths his comrades were digging through the brush... minus his blade cutter.

Everyone glanced to him for a beat before his cutter appeared at his right, his hand suddenly there to catch it.

A beat after that, nearly a dozen mechaniloids just fell apart all around their formation, and only a few branches had been lost in the huge arc his blade had apparently cut to do so.

“Focus, gentlemen.”

Even Zero deadpanned at him, and they renewed the charge.

* * *

Alia dashed into the med-bay just as X's medpod burst and hissed open.

“X, for Light's sake, you aren't ready to deploy yet!”

X leaned out through the mist, his left arm incomplete, but fully framed. Essentially, it lacked armor layers, but the internals were there. “Alia, I'm sorry, I'm out of time.”

“Zero and two units have it handled! They are closing on Web Spider's main base as we speak!”

X fully stepped down, looking to her urgently worried expression with gentle apology. “I have to.”

Alia stepped closer, putting her hands on his shoulders. “No! You don't have to! You're not alone, and Zero's following your standing orders! Web Spider will be brought in as unharmed as possible!”

X reached up to hold one of her wrists. It wasn't tight, just a hold. “Alia, I'm known for rushing out into things, and this isn't just about Web Spider.”

Alia paused, her eyes blinking a few times. //This is... part of your plan?//

//A touch of it, yes. One of my armor capsules is in that region, and I also need to appear... less stable for the plan. This helps me do that.//

Alia cringed, but slowly lowered her arms from his shoulders and touch. “...Stay alert, X... come back home, huh?”

X offered a wan smile, touched her shoulder, and then sprinted around her before thruster-blasting away.

Alia let her head sag where she stood, a tear trickling down her face. _This plan better not get you killed in the end, X..._

* * *

X's telefield smashed down near the paths Barrel and Tunnel Rhino had cut through the jungle compound perimeter. X himself came flying out, his frame streaking on the air from his boosted speed.

“Zero, this is X. Have you passed points 377.2 yet!?”

“X!? There is no way your repairs are finished!” Zero shouted back on the comm.

“I'm here already, just answer the damn question... please?”

Zero shared a glance amidst a few of the unit members around him. “Yeah, we passed it. You're insane, you know that?”

“Oh come now,” X managed somewhat playful humor. “You'd be disappointed if I didn't charge in at this point.”

Zero rolled his optics, and kept speeding along with his team. “I'd love to be disappointed that way. We're not slowing down for you, X, keep up!”

X flickered along, only to suddenly stop at the lip of a cliff going down to a lower level of the jungle area. “Wouldn't have it any other way, Zero.”

He dropped down, springing from ledge to ledge for a few seconds, only to land to a crouch near an apparently blank cliff wall. His colors snapped to yellow-orange hues, and his spouted a tornado-fang out of his functioning right arm. Soon he was lost in a spray of rock and dirt.

* * *

In the command center, Signas looked across to Alia's quiet return. “I see we couldn't stop him from deploying again.”

Alia shrugged, lifted her hands up, and got back to her desk quickly.

Double was manning one of the sensors-stations on the side opposite Iris this time, and glanced over his shoulder, rubbing the back of his helmet-style head. “The commander's a go-getter, isn't he?”

Iris glanced to Alia sympathetically. “That's one way of putting it...” She quickly focused back on the tac data for Zero's team.

* * *

Barrel and Tunnel Rhino finally punched through the thick jungle brush, and had to either jam to a halt or swerve with the abrupt loss of resistance. Expanding out before them, especially vertically, was a hybrid of metal structures with cyberized trees.

Zero rushed up in their wake, his saber still at the ready. He scanned around with his optics while the rest of both units filled out to either side.

“Good, we're close now.”

“And we've put a sizeable dent in their mechaniloid forces,” Inferno added, idly igniting his weapons over both fists to keep them primed.

“You'd think, wouldn't you?”

A new voice rang out all around them. It was mildly high pitched, and it sounded challenging in tone, but it wasn't manic.

Zero eased to the forefront of his team. “I can't pin down a source. Probably using a broadcast comm network here in the facility.”

Gravity Beetle angled his head one way, then the other. “I think you're right. If that's Web Spider, he's probably still ahead.”

“Something like that!” Web Spider returned in the same booming manner. “But you must think me a poor defense strategist if all you expected to guard my gates was amphibious units!”

Quickman snapped an arm out across most of the team. “Stop. Silence.”

Everyone, even Zero, knew he wouldn't toy around with that.

In the sudden quiet, they did hear it. A strange humming.

Crush Crawfish whipped his whiskers. “I recognize that sound... Blast Hornet's drones.”

Airstrike crouched, and then sprang up into flight, his vortex blasters priming. Once he was several meters over their heads, he stopped. “Oh scrap! LOTTA INCOMING!”

Zero blitzed to a thick root just ahead of the team. “COVER AND SUPPRESSION WEAPONS!”

Airstrike and Inferno immediately teamed up to unleash flame waves and air-blast them outward while the rest of the team dove, charged, and leapt into cover.

Gravity Beetle started to gather warping, distorted energy near his hands. “I need some time to build up a contermeasure, but it should be fairly definitive!”

Quickman smirked at him, and then called to Zero, “Beetle's got it, just buy him the time!”

Zero snapped his saber into a tight grip. “Understood. Airstrike, Inferno, sound off when you've hit saturation point!”

“Copy!” the two chorused.

And the next moment, a storm-surge of yellow and steel mechaniloid hornets came churning out of the jungle compound, tearing down through branches, across flooring, and around support struts. Such a true swarm nearly moved like a single entity.

And that entity crashed head-long into a wall of fire and force, Airstrike spanning his vortex blasts in and out, while Inferno sprayed his flames high and wide, continually igniting and exploding out and across for several meters in every direction above their head-height.

And as they did so, more amphibious mechaniloids came charging along the floor level, staves spinning, or flipping to send out punch-blades.

“Cover the suppression team!” Zero shouted as he flipped across his cover to slice down through two different amphibious units.

Quickman, Crush Crawfish, Shimmer, Barrel, and Tunnel Rhino all tore from cover to start churning through mechaniloids just as much as the swarm was the canopy.

* * *

X knew he was running low on time. He wasted none punching through the rock and dirt layer, finally stumbling out into a small cavern... illuminate by a capsule of Dr. Light's design. X ran up to it, and touched his hand to the glowing surface.

As all the times before, the capsule opened in a flash, and in its place stood a hologram, pale blue, of Dr. Light himself.

“Megaman X, I'd hoped you'd never reach this level of capsule. I suspect my worst fears have come true, and that my enemies have reached through to your time just as decisively as they existed in mine. These upgrades will also come with coding unlocks. You will be shown where all of my capsules are going forward, but I must beg you to remember one thing. Weapons and tools are only as noble as the actions they support. Please, prove me right in trusting you to the future. I am deathly afraid that I've become what I hate by not giving you the right chance.”

X's eyes watered, and he swallowed thickly in mimicry of human emotion that coded into him so deeply it was entirely sincere.

After a pause for those heavy words to hang, Dr. Light continued. “This capsule will upgrade your thruster systems to a much higher level. Not only will you have thrust in mid-air, but you will be able to generate enough to hover for several seconds. May it keep you steady when all around you falls away...”

X bowed his head, but his eyes had to snap open again as comms lit up from Zero's fight. With a twist and hop, he leaped into the capsule, and the energy began to flow over him.

* * *

Quickman sent his cutter through three more amphibious mechaniloids, while flickering past all of them to catch it. Crush Crawfish was near his stopping point, literally step-snapping as he trudged forward, clipping through hornets that swept low and amphibious units alike.

Shimmer used a stuttering form of his camouflage to confused mechaniloid tracking, while snapping off tri-bolts and quick hammer-blows from his limbs. What few he didn't outright destroy were quickly picked off by Barrel, who was tearing through them. On occasion, Barrel would also sweep his arms up, rolling shields flaring, letting him carve chunks out of the swarm still warring with Airstrike and Inferno's conflagration.

Tunnel Rhino ripped his drill down through two different amphibious units, then back-fisted another so hard the head flew off.

Zero tore through the left flank of their formation with rapid twirls and slashes of his body and blade, leaving a pile of partially glowing parts all around him.

“Gravity Beetle! We're losing ground here!” Zero called back sharply.

Gravity Beetle groaned as he lifted his hands up, and stepped out into view, a massive, concentrated orb of distorted force above his limbs. “HIT THE DECK!”

Airstrike dove hard, Inferno flattened himself, and Zero and the others dove to either side.

Gravity Beetle snapped his arms down and out. The distortion exploded outward, like an undertow pulsing through the reef that was the hornets and ground units. And then it suddenly wrenched inward to a new central point, a few meters above Zero and company's location.

Even Quickman was astonished as he looked up to see the entire swarm start to churn inward, crushing, crashing, and warping down into a central point. The larger humanoid units tried to cling to the ground, but were torn loose, and sucked into the same crushing miasma of parts that was still shrinking harder and harder toward a point.

And after several long seconds, Gravity Beetle dropped to his knees, panting his respirator. “Clear below!” he shouted despite his exhaustion.

Barrel, Quickman, and Tunnel Rhino had to quickly roll to the sides as a giant, messy ball of crushed metal slammed down where they'd been taking cover.

And then it was quiet.

Zero and Quickman were the first ones to rush to Gravity Beetle's side, especially as he crashed to all fours.

“Are you alright!?” Zero demanded urgently, while Quickman just knelt at his side and touched his shoulder.

Gravity Beetle touched Quickman's hand, and managed to look up to Zero. “Severe core-drain. Won't be... much use... for rest of deployment... but not lethal.”

Zero tipped his head. “Good. Quickman, you're his guard until we can get telefields through the Repliforce jamming.”

Quickman gave a thumbs up, his usual careless cheer absent as he looked over his brother, though Zero was ignorant of the connection.

Zero jogged back to the rest of the team. “Alright, press ahead. We need to neutralize Web Spider as quickly as possible, we just had a couple of delays.”

Airstrike checked his busters while responding, “We're all getting drained. It was an effective swarm defense.”

Zero shrugged. “Doesn't change our job. Let's use the opening Beetle gave us, hm?”

Strange sizzling rushes resounded all around them that instant. Shimmer, Tunnel Rhino, Barrel, Crush Crawfish, and Airstrike started to react, but were just a fraction too slow. Electrified webbing slammed into each of them from different angles.

As they cried out and started to collapsed, Zero managed to slice through two different webs from his flanks, Inferno's split-second ignition over his own frame disrupted the four aimed at him enough to let him stay upright, and Quickman's cutter was flickering about himself and his brother with glittering speed just before the remains of webbing fell all around them both.

“Your reaction times do not disappoint!” Web Spider declared as he descended from the highest canopy.

He very much resembled a spider, his charged webbing released from his abdomen just as a natural spider's would be. He had large, almost humanoid rear legs, his forward-most legs were formed into arms with hands, but the middle pairs were spindly appendages more befitting of his namesake. His head was a complicated mix of optics, some powerful zoom lenses, others rudimentary motion sensors, but all active and shifting.

Inferno snapped his arms up. “Surrender immediately!”

Zero braced with his saber, calculating how best to close on the dangling Reploid so high above.

Quickman glanced around with his optics. “DRONES!”

Everyone, even those struggling with the shocking webs, looked up to see dozens of small, spider mechaniloids suddenly raining down from the entire canopy.

“You attacked a jungle warfare expert in his own jungle! With a brazen charge!? There's a lesson to be learned there!” Web Spider called down, his arms snapping in different directions, which seemed to direct his drones to suddenly accelerate in various directions.

Inferno had to split his focus, sending a blasting surge over his crippled comrades nearby, and another sweeping gout of flame to protect his other sides. He managed to incinerate several drones, but he was effectively pinned to the spot.

Zero back-flipped, his saber flashing out in crescent stains on the air, leaving more drones raining down in glowing chunks around him. “I'm really just confused about where your real troopers have been all this time!”

Quickman snapped his cutter out with a throw, and then punched or kicked several other drones away... while his cutter sliced apart several others. He caught his weapon, and glanced up to Web Spider as the Repliforce commander responded.

“I prefer not to waste real lives where drones would suffice!”

“I commend that approach.”

X's voice rang out, calm, but magnified, and from _above_.

Everyone snapped startled attention upward, watching X crash down through the canopy in a full-body dive, energy coursing over his frame, and his colors mingled dark blues and yellows.

Web Spider snapped upwards, and fired off several web-nets crackling toward X. In response, X wrenched his arms forward, and fired off both. The weapon system he was using turned into a massive crescent blade of plasma, tinted blue from the severity of its concentration, and sang down through the air.

The energy blade, massive as it was, seemed to be aimed with immense precision. It sliced through Web Spider's shots at X, then through Web Spider's support line. While the Repliforce commander started to free-fall, the blade continued down to the ground at an angle, ripping through most of the drones, then down through Inferno's defensive fire cloud, before smashing a line into the ground.

Web Spider shot a fresh line out to one side, catching himself into a swing away from the Maverick Hunter forces, while X flipped over himself, and just before landing, his legs were revealed with the new, sleaker armor, with whole thruster units extending out of the sides.

The new thrusters ignited, and X halted mid-air, safely over Airstrike and the others. He aimed with both busters, and snapped off smaller crescent-pairs of the plasma energy. It was similar to Overdrive Ostrich's weapon, but seemed heavier, and faster.

The more precise shots cut loose the others, and only then did X drop down to his haunches as they all quickly recovered to their feet.

Zero whipped his sword through one last drone on his side, while giving X a dry stare. “Was wondering why you were so late. New legs and... even repaired your arm?”

X rubbed the back of his head a bit. “Yeah, more or less...”

Web Spider braced himself on some high canopy branches. “Well, no plan survives engaging the enemy, after all. Don't worry! I have plenty more for you!”

Shimmer raised an optic-ridge. “He's seriously outnumbered, and his main ambush just got undone. What does he really think he's going to pull off?”

X tilted his head slightly, his optics sharpening toward Web Spider, who seemed to be strained his internal systems. “Scatter to cover, I'll engage to keep him off balance.”

Zero sideglanced him again. “...That an order?”

“I'd prefer not to make it one.”

Zero shook his head, and nodded quickly to the others, though he saw several of them were already spreading back and out to cover positions relative to Web Spider's angle.

X kept his word, and rocket blasted himself skyward, boosting from tree, to platform, to branch on his path to Web Spider with flickering rushes of his form on the air.

Web Spider seemed unfocused, but his namesake wasn't only for show. His eight different optics had clear motion, vibration, and IR/UV detection on all ten Hunters. He was also a master of the type of maneuvering X was using to close on him at such speed. He knew X would need to rebound off the branch to his top right, purely for weight support and durability. The only other point available was a lower, further branch, that would force X to lose too much raw speed mid-air purely from air resistance.

As a result, before X had even landed on the branch in question, Web Spider sprang down at the further angle from him.

X's optics widened as he pressed into the branch with his momentum. //Look out!//

All nine other Reploids quickly hid entirely in cover instead of keeping eyes on Web Spider.

Web Spider sailed through the air from his leaping dive, and just as he hit a certain point, he suddenly snapped all eight limbs out in a storm of whipping, lashing gestures.

X started to dive after him, but halted himself as he saw the massive web of electrified 'silk' the Repliforce commander had spawned in barely a few seconds.

It filled the entire area they'd been fighting in, turning it into a deadly labyrinth of shocking, sticky tendrils... with Web Spider calmly perched in the heart, his head angled awkwardly so that his had optics on everyone once again.

“Basic territorial tactics. Funnel your enemies into a smaller space, and their numbers cease to be an advantage!”

Inferno grumbled a bit in his cover, barely avoiding contact with several thick strands of the webbing even so. //Really wish we had Volt or Overload with us right now.//

Zero rolled his optics a bit. //In hindsight, yeah...//

X had flipped around and perched himself on the top of the branch he'd intended to leap from analyzing Web Spider's web, his own gaze seeming to look down through everything while his sensors and processors went to task.

Web Spider knew X could cut through the webbing, but there was no way X could cut through it all to free his allies without being exposed. In other words, Web Spider had successfully reduced the fight to a one on one.

With little reason to waste time, X used his calculated course through the webbing, and leapt downward with a thruster-blast. His busters snapped out to clearly precise points, firing pairs of plasma-blades out in rapid flurries. He was cutting himself a hole toward Web Spider.

Web Spider chuckled quietly, and started to scramble up through is web to meet X, demonstrating his adroit finesse with his own webbing quite handily as he nearly matched X's speed without thrusters or weapons.

They collided with a flurry of sharp gestures. Web Spider's web-ready fist flew in at X's chest, but X sacrificed his right arm to the impact, entangling those limbs. As X swung that tangle out to his right, his left buster snapped straight into Web Spider's neck and chest junction, while X's legs snapped a knee in to brace against Web Spider's left-side limbs kicking, and X's other leg thruster-blasted the other set away.

And then they hung there, taut in the web, Web Spider's core with a buster to it, and X trapped within the web, away from his allies.

“Stand down,” X rasped through his teeth due the exertion of his frame.

Web Spider was appropriately grim-faced, but his mobile optics shrank to sharp focus. “Do you assume I'm some infected Maverick after all? That my entire force will collapse without me at the head?”

“No. I take you for a military unit. A proud one. Your men won't stand down if you don't first.”

Web Spider softened the clench of his optics. “Fair enough. Unfortunately, you're mistaken here.”

Most of the Maverick Hunters reacted to the sounds that came next, but no one could really move far from their cover location without hitting Web Spider's web.

Repliforce Soldiers came in from all sides and levels. Multiple pairs and squads of three, all with high-power rifles. Different teams trained their sites on different Hunters, who already had weapons ready, Quickman still covering for his weakened brother, which created an instant stand-off.

“Even if you kill me,” Web Spider continued, “my men will make sure that the invading forces are wiped out. With your speed, you might save one, perhaps two of your comrades, but you couldn't spare them all. Unless, of course, you want to erase every enemy at once around us. I've studied your records, too, Commander X, you're not above scorched earth tactics.”

X's optics actually twitched as he held the awkward, curled stand-off with Web Spider himself. It was clearly a definitive blow to X himself, his mind warring with his desired responses. A dark part of him did want to unleash, to end this before any of his comrades could get hurt worse, but he knew that for what it was. It did surge so strongly in him, though. Finally, he closed his eyes, his brow knitting. For several seconds, he simply held like that, everyone tense, everyone aiming weapons. The entire situation was a split-second from exploding.

At last, X slowly opened his eyes, a harrowing focus driving into Web Spider's gaze. X's voice was quiet, soft, and resolute. “You care about your men. I care about mine. If you stand down, and order them to do so, no one is harmed. If you hold this line, many people will die. And, if you've studied my records, you know exactly how few of your forces will escape if I think I've lost some of my best comrades to your trap.”

“Petty vengeance, is it?” Web Spider quietly returned.

“I'd call it murderous rage, but you can use whatever phrase you prefer. The truth is what it is. Let me spare the lives involved here. ...Please.”

“Sir, we have clear shots,” one of the Repliforce soldiers calmly muttered into his comm.

“Likelihood of target escape is less than 2%, sir.”

“On your order, sir.”

For X, he heard Shimmer rasp, “We're built tough, but those plasma rounds will reach close to our power cores even with a glancing hit.”

“He's right, and I can't deflect or reach enough to save even half of us,” Zero whispered tensely.

“I hope you can pull another miracle out here, X,” Inferno muttered.

Web Spider had a view of the whole situation thanks to his myriad optics. His primary pair tightened as he listened.

“So tell me, X,” Web Spiders started again. “Why do you side with a human government that wanted to commit genocide over your fellow Reploids?”

X slowly lowered his head. “I'm not siding with either. I'm trying to save lives and end a war that never should have started. You know how scared the human government is. How long do you really think they'll tolerate an orbital army? And if you defend yourselves well, humanity will lose billions. If you can't, Reploids lose billions. I want _peace_.”

“...And how long do you expect you'll last, with how scared they are?”

“I don't.”

Web Spider showed faint surprise, then considered X more carefully.

The seconds drew out, everyone's joints creaking from such constant primed servos. Unblinking optics, humid air dripping down faces and weapons, or sizzling on static energy.

And then Web Spider's voice rang out clearly.

“Stand down.”


	8. A Mushroom Divided

Zero's brow was creased as he calmly stood guard, watching Web Spider and his Reploid troopers be peacefully walked into the stockade building that had been expanded off of Maverick Hunter HQ. Among his own team, there had been a clear line between those that seemed almost expectant of X's success, and those that were troubled like himself. He had his suspicions of why that line was drawn where it was.

Yet, the results were self-evident. Not a single Reploid had died. Zero had been listening, though. Closely. The conversation between Web Spider and X told him more about X's focus and intentions than most other things could have.

Zero turned as the last soldier was led into the stocks at last, intent on finding X...

* * *

X was in Dr. Cain's medical lab, standing near Shimmer, who had forgone minor repairs to immediately return here. The cyborg victims all seemed to be asleep, with Dr. Cain and Warp Turtle working away at their programming interfaces off to the side.

“The same response from all of them,” Shimmer muttered after a long silence.

X looked to him. “Remove the cybernetics the lab gave them, but accept prosthetic replacements from us?”

Shimmer nodded. “They'll never really recover from this. There's simply no way.”

X bowed his head. “...We have an opening now. A small one. I can spare that lab proper focus.”

Shimmer closed his optics, tilting his head back. “Why couldn't we save these people, X?”

Dr. Cain glanced across the lab briefly, but didn't interrupt. The only minor glance Warp Turtle spared them indicated he was in a similar place mentally. In part, it was a relief to Dr. Cain that none of them seemed to feel the need to hide their true emotions around him in that moment. Perhaps he'd taken steps in the right direction...

X looked down at his right hand. He could always see the blood on it from the first human he'd failed to protect. It was now part of a rosary of trauma in his mind, moments of heart break that had either broken him or spurred him forward, but each changed him. Losing Zero, taking Vile's head off, annihilating the viral X-Hunters... Cadis' suffering, too. “...We can't save everyone, Shimmer, but if you feel I failed to support you enough, I'm listening.”

Shimmer slowly shook his head. “Impossible choices. It's why we tried to avoid this mess. ...I just can't get her voice out of my head.”

X glanced to the particular cyborg he knew Shimmer meant. Even resting, she seemed pained to some degree. “...Be glad of that. It means your heart still works.”

Shimmer looked to X more directly. “...You still hear them all, don't you?”

“And their screams,” X whispered in answer.

And that was when the lab doors opened again. Dr. Cain, Warp Turtle, Shimmer, and X all focused toward it, finding Zero marching into view resolutely.

“...Shimmer,” Zero started in a subdued voice, “how are they?”

Shimmer shrugged somewhat. “Suffering, but Dr. Cain and Warp Turtle are doing all he can for them. I can ask no more.”

Both Warp Turtle and Dr. Cain took the reminder to refocus on their coding and designs.

Zero nodded, and then settled his gaze on X. “We need to talk.”

* * *

X closed the door of the small tac-briefing room Zero had led him into. It was poorly lit, and neither seemed to have a mind to change that.

Zero turned, a hand resting on the table at his hip, his eyes tightened at X's own. “Your conversation with Web Spider was very interesting... Sir.”

X closed his eyes for a beat at the prefix. “I imagine it was. It didn't go exactly how I wanted, but in the moment there was no reason to risk lives with half-truths.”

“So you believe the human government is going to turn on you?”

X tilted his head faintly. “I'm counting on it.”

Zero paused, his face shifting to both incredulity, but also curiosity. “...This related to your circle of friends you think I don't know about?”

X rubbed his hands together slowly. “Zero, you spent the entire Doppler situation investigating me. I know you learned something more than what was used to put me off-field-duty.”

“So why don't you just tell me what's actually going on?”

“Because you might not agree with it, and I don't make a habit of putting people in situations they'd rather avoid.”

“Even if it means you're hiding things from them?”

“Our organization protects half the world by hiding intel from public knowledge, Zero. Neither of us like it, but it's necessary to save lives. That is the only justification I expect or accept for such deceit.”

Zero closed toward X, looking down into his face from near touching. “And I'm getting sick of being out of the intel loop, Commander. If you want me to make my best decisions, I need to know.”

X met his gaze calmly. “But does Iris? Do the council? If you don't like what I have to say, you'll do your duty, and report it. And that will put a lot of lives in danger.”

Zero actually grabbed onto X's shoulders, and lifted him against the wall. “I GET IT! You don't trust me! You think I'm a murderer who won't hold back enough! But maybe if you included me in this secret organization of yours, I wouldn't have to!”

X was only mildly startled at first, and then let himself hang from Zero's hands without contest. “I do trust you, Zero. I trust you to always do the right thing, damn the consequences. Our methods differ, not our intents. And I need someone I can trust on the _outside_ of my plans, or they may well collapse under their own weight.”

Zero narrowed his eyes. He eased back, setting X down. “You're scheming a bit much for my tastes, X. If I didn't know better, I might worry you've been a Maverick for years, and you're the one behind all the outbreaks in the first place!”

“But you do know better.”

Zero didn't argue the point, but he was clearly annoyed by the response.

“Here's what I can promise you. I want to end this Repliforce situation with as few lives lost as possible, and becoming the leader of the Maverick Hunters helps my plans long term. And I fully expect—and hope—that if you don't like what you see me doing, that you'll try to stop me.”

“How the hell am I supposed to stop something I know nothing about!?”

“Because my actions are what they are, regardless of any plans, Zero!” X finally raised his voice to cut through the emotion. “I value my comrades' trust and help day in and day out, but I know exactly how dangerous the line I'm walking is, and how terrible a toll it's demanding of my closest friends! I need to make sure something is there to stop me from falling off the line on the wrong side!”

Zero eased back, glaring down his face at X. “...So I'm your fail-safe if all your scheming backfires, hm?”

X nodded seriously. “Especially you, Zero. Everyone knows you and I butt heads. It won't surprise anyone if you stand up to me to stop me.”

Zero became curious again. “...You need it to look like I really want to take you out?”

X shrugged faintly. “If it gets that far, yes.”

“...That's a big ask of a 'friend,' X.”

“A terrible ask.”

“...Is that why you let Iris decide who faced her brother?”

“In part, at least.”

Zero exhaled, and eased back a natural distance at last. “...Alright, X. I'll see how this goes. Because, yeah, you can be damn sure I'll stop you if you go too far.”

X offered his hand with a gentle smile. “I'm counting on it.”

Zero gripped his hand, and they shook.

* * *

“How did this even happen?” a frustrated engineer demanded of a particular troop-carrier in Maverick Hunter HQ's ship bay.

It was a cavernous space, used to quickly deploy crews onto the capital ships for full-scale operations.

The engineer was half-buried in the guts of the main engine, clearly adjusting some larger portions of equipment.

Double trundled up nearby, carrying a large crate. “I've got your replacement parts, sir!”

The engineer finally pulled himself out, glancing Double up and down. “Where's Ikan?”

“Got called over to transport 4 urgently! Asked me to relay these to you at transport 7.”

The engineer twitched. “What? What happened to 4?”

Double shrugged. “Didn't tell me, sir, I just do what I'm told!”

None other than Cadis appeared some meters away, coming around one wing of the transport. “Apparently transport 4 has a bad fuel leak that was missed on the post-flight check yesterday.”

Both Reploids focused on her.

“A fuel leak?” the engineer demanded. “This can't be right! We checked those ships in full detail, ma'am!”

Cadis raised an eyebrow. “So you're saying...?”

“I think we have a saboteur,” the engineer grimly confirmed.

Cadis frowned, somewhat reflexively glancing to Double, who seemed blissfully happy standing by to serve. She tightened her gaze, then touched her audio-receptor. //Tripwire, Spikesaw, Snapvice, any other odd problems on transports today?//

Tripwire and Snapvice confirmed all clear, but Spikesaw soon replied, //Transport 10 has a hydraulic leak that would've caused a crash on next landing.//

Cadis' brow creased, and she focused on the engineer near her. “Do you have the damaged pieces, still?”

He lifted a finger, and promptly dove back into the engine. With some grunts that made Cadis start to ease closer to help him, he finally popped back out before she could fully attempt to, and offered her a greasy, oil-gunked machine pump of some kind.

“Oil-diverter. The primary one.”

Cadis cringed faintly, but took the messy piece in her hands. “Thanks.” She started to scan it with her targeting screen.

Tripwire's voice returned on comms. //Any evidence of suspicious damage? I'm going around to collect the repair reports.//

//I'll go pull copies of the security footage,// Snapvice added.

Cadis stayed focused first, turning the damaged engine part over in her hands, getting a detailed scan of its entire structure.

In the meantime, Double was finally able to help the engineer, handing him different pieces and tools as he dove back in and stuck a hand out periodically.

Cadis stopped for a second, then turned the component back over in her hands as if it was nothing.

//Laser cut straight across part of this diverter. Hidden along a contour of the mechanism. That wasn't accidental.//

Tripwire's response was instant. //Collect all damaged parts immediately. Snapvice, I'm requesting your data-pull be classified as a security threat. Tell no one outside the team of the data until we get it to X and the command staff.//

//Copy!// rang out from all three, and they got to work spreading out to collect the rest of the evidence.

Double glanced after Cadis with a faint smile, but his eyes were sharper.

* * *

X twisted from Tripwire, Cadis, Snapvice, and Spikesaw immediately after hearing their report, his eyes locking toward Iris, Dex, and Alia. “Full security lockdown. Now. I want all security footage of the hangar examined between this moment and those ships coming back from deployment last.”

Dex gave a sharp affirmation, starting the security protocols. A yellow-alert filled HQ, and the perimeter gates gave warnings as they started to power shut.

Alia twisted her chair. “What about current operations?”

“Maintain contact, but use one of the emergency bunkers as a retreat rally point if needed until lockdown is ended.”

“Yes, sir!”

Iris called over, “Sir, Repliforce may notice this and try to act.”

“Keep me informed, but we can only move in so many directions at once.'

Signas and Zero glanced back to X at the holomap.

“Sabotage has your attention, obviously, but we can't just freeze everything, X,” Zero voiced.

X nodded. “We aren't. Unit 61, great work. Stay on this, and keep Signas up to date. I have to deploy.”

Everyone froze for a beat.

“What?” Zero blurted out, but Alia had been close to doing the same.

“The biolab situation. We have an opening, and we have our best and brightest checking for the saboteur. I'm going alone, and obviously Signas has command if something prevents me from being contacted.”

“With no backup?” Alia added sourly.

X looked to her with an apologetic but tired expression. “Those civilians suffered horrendous crimes. I can't ignore it when I have a genuine chance, but this sabotage can't be ignored either.”

Alia got some kind of alert, quickly glancing back to her console. “...The council wants to know what's wrong, too.”

X tapped his helmet. “Patch them through to me directly, I'm going.”

Alia exhaled heavily, but did as ordered, and Unit 61 hurried out in X's wake to get to their work as well.

Zero and Signas shared a glance.

“He's lucky he's got you.”

Signas smirked. “Happy to help.”

* * *

“You can't just deploy on your own, during a lockdown that you ordered!”

X hopped up into the telefield array. “You asked me to handle this mess for you, councilor. If I fail, we know you're bringing the hammer down regardless, so let's dispense with the wasted time, hm?”

“You're on thin ice, Maverick Hunter.”

“People are dying. I'll dive into that ice-water if I have to, councilor.”

And then the field cut off his signal.

* * *

X melted out of the telefield just outside the broken exit Airstrike had led his team through with the cyborgs. Once again, the outside was all but dead, no indication the large facility had any activity at all.

X formed one buster, and slipped inside, his helmet gem glowing as he activated his full suite of sensors and feeds. The mixture of multiple light wavelengths, sonic detection, and even atmosphere testing quickly started to map out the structures around him, even some of the internal structures behind the surfaces depending on thickness and resistance to the vibrations.

The more it seemed the place was drawing him in, the less patience X had. He shifted from cautious slowness, to thruster-blasted flickering down halls, and between bulkheads. He passed the cyborg lab, then a series of halls that had clearly been used for storage and experimentation on the humans.

Finally, he came to a sealed gate, massive from all sides. He paused as his sensors analyzed it. They couldn't penetrate more than a few inches, though some the extrapolation from the external size and his previous path helped fill in some inferred spacing behind it. There was a lot of facility above for this to be the 'last' room.

And then the gate resounded with a hard clank, then slow, heavy ratchets, splitting the mechanism across the middle, letting it left and drop out of the way.

Now X's gaze tightened. A huge power supply column started ahead to the left, and ran all the way up to what had to be near the roof, with a wide, spiraling stairwell wrapped around it, rising higher and higher into the purple-green haze of the power system.

And there were also dozens of mechaniloid cup-wheels, hornets, and even construction vehicles charging down the 'steps' toward him.

X snapped his other buster into form. “Time to get serious...”

X burst forward, both busters blazing in arcs and snaps. His body drove forward or leapt high, but his arms danced and glided, unleashing pulse-blasts with such speed and precision that they almost resembled ribbons flying off from some mad dance, tearing through mechaniloids in every direction, or back through their aft sections in the case of the construction vehicles with large ramming blocks on their fronts.

He ascended the spiral rapidly, all but a cloud of collapsing debris in his wake. As more and more mechaniloids tried to push down on him, he started to switch through cutting weapons. Slash Beast's, Overdrive Ostrich's, Jet Stingray's, Crush Crawfish's. They all spun, buzzed, ripped, and tore out from X in various paths or arcs, letting him simply fold his way through the chunks raining down ahead of him.

Abruptly, the ceiling of the spiral itself started to collapse further ahead, apparently triggered by some explosives. There was also a path leading to one of the higher levels just out to the right.

He was being herded.

X narrowed his eyes as he blazed straight for the collapsing debris... and then strafe-arced his legs to drive him into the opening for that level.

Unsurprisingly, a heavy gate slammed shut in his wake. X looked out from that to see a strangely techno-organic structure ahead of him. The surfaces of the hall appeared to be completely enclosed in cybernetic vines of some kind, with purple buds nearly as big as he was periodically sprouting out of any given surface.

He'd fought enough Mavericks to know where this was going.

There was no point sneaking. He burst forward, staining the air with thruster speed. As he'd expected, the bulbs reacted in two different ways. Some snapped open and started to unleash fast-charged plasma-orbs, effectively omni-directional turrets. The rest actually burst forward on extensions of cyber-vines, forcing X to slide flat on the ground, or side-flip over or around them before they crashed into—and often through—the opposite surface.

Mildly charged plasma bolts were enough to blast apart the turret bulbs, so X simply kept flitting across the alien architecture, dodging rams and snapping off shots.

After only a dozen or so meters of these, he heard unmistakable sounds of power-drilling above. His speed was already such that he was safe, but entire sections of the hallway in his wake were collapsing down between teams of drill-mechaniloids on the surface above.

Shortly after that, the floors were blown out, forcing X to fly across gaps while still dodging and returning fire at bulbs.

Finally, a hall section ahead of him started to collapse just after he was forced to leap over a gap. X yanked his legs forward, thruster-blast to halt himself, and then jammed his feet down before his secondary thrusters ignited.

He hovered there, then pirouetted into a spin with both busters firing, ripping apart several bulb-turrets and a few hornet mechaniloids that tried to fly in from the gaps in the ceiling or floor.

His thrusters lost power, and he flipped forward, a hand reverting. He just caught the edge of the next section of floor with his fingers, and quickly yanked himself up onto his elbows. He cycled his respirator in exasperation. “Yeah, Alia, no back-up was stupid, I hear you.”

The part of his mind that pointed out his foolishness had taken on an uncanny resemblance to Alia's own voice in the last year.

X picked himself up fully, and hurried along to keep climbing.

* * *

Signas, Zero, Cadis, and Tripwire were around the holotable with Alia, Dex, and Iris in Maverick Hunter HQ's command center. Alia had a datapad in one arm that she kept checking, likely a signal scan for X, but she was involved.

Dex started as the holotable showed three-dimensional models of the security footage in the hangar of the affected ships. “So we've fully reviewed the footage between the ships' return and the discovery of the damage. The main problem is that our security scanners that supplied this mapping data do still have some blind spots. We don't really have a good way to model around corners throughout the whole facility.”

Signas stroked his chin. “And those individuals that moved into and out of the blind spots?”

Iris lifted a finger, and pointed. She controlled the footage to speed between several instances of Reploids moving under shadows in the hologram under the wings or bellies of the different ships. It was mostly the same team of repair Reploids, along with Double, who'd been assigned to the hangar for the entire day.

“In almost all cases, the blind spots were too brief to cause the damage involved. These three,” Iris continued, turning the display into three copies of the bay, each playing a particular moment of some of the Reploids vanishing into the blind spots, “were long enough to do possible harm, but were also in the wrong locations for each ship in question.”

Zero set his hands on his hips. “Could the damage have been done by the ship crews before landing?”

“In theory,” Alia chimed in. “Some of those deployments were extended due to the wide coverage. It'll take all the longer to properly analyze the footage for all the affected ships.”

Signas nodded, “We must be diligent. Who feels best able to review that footage?”

Alia opened her mouth, but hesitated, everyone noticing her eyes flicking to her datapad. Dex cleared his throat.

“Happy to, sir,” Dex declared calmly. “Want me to start immediately?”

Alia glanced to Dex with meek appreciation, and Signas tipped his head to the faceplated Reploid. Dex simply stepped away, returning to his console and getting started.

Cadis leaned onto the holotable with her hands. “Can I see the sped-up full view, again, please?”

Iris quickly obliged.

Everyone glanced to Cadis somewhat, but watched with her as the sped-up process looped a few times, Cadis' optics clearly tracking a few specific points.

“...Were the damaged parts replaced or repaired before the damage was found?”

Alia blinked, and pulled something else up on her datapad, Iris also checking something on a smaller holoscreen near her waist.

“Oh no,” Iris whispered.

Alia's shoulders sank slowly as well. “...Yes. All of them.”

Zero and Tripwire both dropped their heads.

“You mean all of these sabotaged parts were put into the ships, and we just... happened to find them again?”

Alia quickly explained, “Emergency protocols, sir. Every repair is checked a second time before the final clearance is given on the complete status. It's really just there to cover mistakes or confusion because the repair teams get really slammed sometimes. Especially after major battles.”

Tripwire ran a hand down his face. “Good catch, Cadis... it just also means that literally anyone with access to the parts bays could be our saboteur.”

Cadis slumped, exhaling. “That's a whole other set of cameras and feeds to check, for who knows how long?”

Alia tapped at her datapad for a moment. “Actually... Every instance of sabotage was specifically very precise. They were intended to be missed until the ship was used again. Only someone with strong engineering background, or someone working on very specific instructions, could do that properly.”

Signas tilted his head. “But, in fairness, isn't our entire repair staff up to that description?”

“Not exactly. You don't need to be a genius to replace malfunctioning parts. There's a big difference between finding a problem with troubleshooting, and knowing exactly how to create a problem that's hard to find.”

Cadis nodded a little, but her eyes scanned over the footage, which was still looping, once more. Her eyes slowly tightened. Something was... off. The way the teams were moving. “...Every repair team has specific assignments, right? No one really just free-floats between tasks?”

It called everyone's attention back to her abruptly.

“...Correct,” Alia confirmed softly, waiting for Cadis to continue.

Cadis gestured at the footage. “Freeze it?”

Iris obliged.

Cadis then pointed at Double. “Watch him.”

Iris restarted the loop. Though it was at absurd speed, everyone present could process information quickly.

Several moments of Double stumbling over himself, dropping equipment, and having brief, mildly heated exchanges with different teams. They were pingponging him between them to avoid dealing with him, turning him into a goffer.

Signas turned grim. “...What kind of aptitude scores does Double have for engineering?”

Alia checked. “...Abysmal. He's honestly barely above task-able intelligence in most areas.”

Tripwire folded his arms. “But everyone knows he's a completely klutz already. He'd be a prime target for manipulation.”

Zero tilted his head. “...Cadis, you're sharp. I'd like to suggest to Signas that you see what you can do to get close to Double, and see if you can figure out who might be manipulating him.”

Signas glanced between them, though Cadis was still startled. “...If you're amenable, Cadis, I'll confirm the order.”

Cadis' mouth hung open. “U-uh... I'm... no intel officer, sir.”

Tripwire smirked. “You've got great attention to detail, however. I can back you up if you think it's too much?”

Cadis flicked a faint smile. “...I... guess if Tripwire can assist me, I'll be amenable, sir.”

Signas tipped his head. “Granted. Tend to it.”

They both quickly left the command center.

“Alia, why don't you go back to making sure our commander isn't in over his head?”

Alia blushed, but tipped her head to Signas' 'favor', and hurried back to her console.

Iris took a breath. “I suppose I should help Dex review the ship footage for us, sir?”

Signas glanced to her. “Please. This may be the only lull in combat we have.”

Zero offered her a bracing smile before she hurried to her console as well.

More privately, Zero opened an internal comm link to Signas, who accepted it.

//Do you think Double is being pushed around by the council to make X look bad?//

Signas frowned. //Possible, but it seems counter to their interests. They'd undermine him after the fact, not while he's cleaning up their mess. It's his constant flouting of their authority they're biting back on him for.//

Zero nodded subtly. “I'll join security patrols for the lock-down. Call me if you need me, sir.”

Signas simply tipped his head.

* * *

X grew suspicious as he burst out onto an open platform about half-way up the facility tower. He stopped, but kept both busters ready, his optics scanning around with his sensors. The floor was weak, and the only obvious path forward was a doorway on the opposite side.

Motion and sonic waves alerted him from below. He dove aside, and a spinning mass erupted out of where he'd been standing.

The thrusters driving it finally paused, revealing a turtle-like mechaniloid with a shell armed with spikes.

X started to aim, but it cut all thrust entirely, and dropped out of sight with surprising speed.

X firmed, and started to build energy over his frame. He looked around the perimeter of the 'deck', assessing which portion was least likely to collapse the tower completely.

He seemed to make a choice near the door he'd come from, and then dove aside. This time, he was flipping over his head as the mechaniloid was still punching up through the ground. With both busters aimed forward, X unleashed.

The beam of plasma pulsed outward first, then gushed out like a torrent, erasing the turtle bot, and punching a several-meter wide hole into the facility where X had come from.

Finally finishing his flip, X landed to a crouch, his body steaming for a moment as his hands reverted out of his busters.

“Unsubtle as ever, I see.”

X jerked his helmet, his sensors having trouble isolating the source of the sound beyond above. It was rebounding heavily off the various surfaces.

“So you've been expecting me. Specifically.”

“Oh, of course. The master knew my experiments would get your attention. I simply expected you to be at the head of the first charge. It's a small matter.”

X did ready one buster, but kept it down at his hip for the moment. “All our missing Hunters are accounted for. Are you one of Sigma's creations?”

“You mean like the pair you blew up last time? Mm. Not quite.”

X frowned. Was that a direct reference to Bit and Byte? He'd been forced to destroy their united body during the Doppler battle, but he'd pulled their personality drives.

Wind lashing around something spinning and falling made X's optics lock upward. A yellow-orange mass flickered down, and slammed down to its haunches on the floor just near the huge hole he'd burned through the building.

X couldn't avoid a perplexed expression. The maverick before him was essentially a giant mushroom with arms and legs. Mechanical, of course, with optics nestled just under the frilled cap.

“What... are you?” he had to ask.

The vented faceplate had enough articulated to 'smile' at the corners. “Split Mushroom! If you need a name...”

X refocused more seriously as he noticed something more disturbing. Split Mushroom's optics weren't hazed over. That sign of infection that had helped him discern the nature of the virus in the very beginning... it was absent. His brow started to knit.

“...You're not infected.”

Split Mushroom's optics joined his smile. “Wasn't necessary! There's plenty of black-market need for my work, but when the master offered me such an amazing opportunity for so simple a price, who was I to balk?”

“...And you call him 'master'... for fun?”

Split Mushroom shrugged. “When a generous employer has eccentric demands, I choose not to look a gift horse in the mouth.”

X's expression finally fell grim and sorrowful. “...So you mutilated those people just... for fun?”

“Well the fun was a bonus. With so many subjects to experiment on, I progressed my cybernetic development several months! I have to maintain my edge in the market, after all.”

“...You're psychotic.”

Split Mushroom shrugged. “You call it psychosis, I call it scientific method. And all I have to do, to keep up such a golden goose, is kill you!”

X's expression grew strangely hollow. There were still hints of grim focus and grief, but a cold realization had washed over him despite it.

“No...” he whispered, bowing his head. “The virus wants me to kill you...” His lips shivered, then spread into a grimace. _It's poking and prodding my sensibilities. I wouldn't be surprised, but the sheer cruelty of the methods on others..._

Rushing air resounded. Split Mushroom rebounded off the opposite wall, above the huge hole, and ripped toward X like a cannon-ball while somersaulting.

X's eyes snapped open, focused and sharp, cold and calculating.

Just before Split could impact, X's left arm was just abruptly upright, at the end of a violently rigid uppercut.

Split Mushroom cried out in surprise and pain as he was knocked straight back out of his spin at full speed. The dent in his faceplate matched to how far he flew, tumbling along the deck until he crunched against the wall. He was recovering immediately, but it was clear he was reconsidering his adversary.

X slowly lowered his arm, his optics locking onto Split Mushroom again. “You're mentally ill. Surrender right now, and you'll be detained, and given treatment for breakdown in your moral coding.”

“Well isn't that pedantic?” Split Mushroom muttered darkly. “I see how I was swindled now, but you'd best not underestimate me just because you pity me!”

X started to walk toward the maverick by choice. It was clear a darkness was broiling inside him, one he was barely keeping at bay, but he had enough terrible memories to help hold it back. For now.

Split Mushroom smirked, and suddenly wrenched upward, clouds of nanite-spores bursting out to the sides.

Just a moment later, the spores actually crackled with power, and then solidified... into two more copies of him.

X paused, his head dipping as he recalibrated his sensors for multiple targets.

They weren't illusions, nor were they cheap doubles. Sonic, heat, and even energy radiation confirmed they were identical to the primary, or original, Split Mushroom.

And then all three launched themselves into somersaulting barrages, ricocheting off walls to come flying in at X from different angles.

X was forced to flip, twist, and slide around their attacks. Their speed was intensifying as they bounced again and again, too. X's optics flickered around, tracking them even at that speed, but tracking and countering were two different things. He had to keep dodging their flurries of rams for the moment.

“You really are an interesting specimen!” one Maverick called out.

“We understand why master wants you studied now!” another added.

“Your capacity is completely unrelated to your frame! You're practically a battle cruiser!”

X flowed between two of them with a side-flip. _So the virus is reassessing me. That's why he's so cautious this time. It means my plan is likely to work, but the cost..._

He closed his eyes for a beat, and that cost him.

All three Split Mushrooms slammed into him in a rapid rush, sending X flying back and crashing against the far wall. He slowly slid down to his feet, his head bowed.

Split Mushroom stopped, his three bodies eyeing X suspiciously.

“Giving up wasn't likely. Something wrong, Maverick Hunter X?” one of the bodies prodded.

X lifted his head, his optics slowly drawing open. “Are you creating clones, or are they actually duplicated Reploids? Each with their own personality drives?”

The three shrugged. “That's for me to know, and you to find out,” they said in unison.

“...You really should tell me.”

“Why?” they demanded dryly.

X's colors suddenly snapped, and his busters were out in an instant. Electrified webbing was already airborne.

The two side bodies tried to dive away, but the webbing caught fast to their lower bodies and the flooring, shocking them enough to make them crash flat.

The center body reeled back, but another blast of webbing slammed into his front, legs, and the floor, making him stumble flat while jittering from the energy shocks that prevented him from actually coordinating his frame.

X walked up to the three, that terrible coldness still in his eyes. “Tell me, or I start destroying bodies.”

The center body growled. “So that's the trick, is it? You're a professional after all. You act all goodie goodie in public, to your friends, but you're really the worst killing machine out there. I'm the original!”

The two other bodies twitched additionally. “NO, I AM!”

“Don't listen to either of them, it's me!”

X nodded to himself. “You really did duplicate yourself. That's impressive tech. I also wonder if that's part of what drove you mad.”

The center body tried to wrench upward at X, but X somehow just emitted a signal, and all three bodies were shocked so severely they went into emergency stasis.

And with Split Mushroom's codes, X was able to shut the facility down at long last. He raised his head back, just standing there for a moment.

//X!? Are you alright?//

Alia's worried voice was both expected and painful in that moment. It reminded him how cruel he was being to his friends, to... her.

//...I'm unharmed, and the maverick controlling the lab has been neutralized.//

She heard everything in that quiet, grim tone. //...X... what do you need?//

X slowly bowed his head. //...for this to end.//


	9. Infiltrating the Network

X had to go through a much more stringent security check upon his return, since the lockdown hadn't been ended yet. He showed no signs of complaint, and then joined the security patrols shortly thereafter, especially to help secure Split Mushroom's bodies.

Even Shimmer, who came out to thank X personally for handling the lab, noticed how quiet and distant X seemed. He still responded, even smiled somewhat, but his manner was muted severely since returning from the lab.

“Let me know if they need anything,” was all X had left Shimmer with.

“Of course... Thank you.”

* * *

Tripwire and Cadis reported to Signas later the same day, both looking exhausted.

“If it's a member of the crews, they're damn good agents, because we couldn't find any holes in their stories,” Cadis started, her shoulders slumped.

Tripwire gestured to her, and added, “Short of directly asking Double if anyone gave him strange orders, which would blow any semblance of cover we have to the saboteur, we're at an impasse.”

Signas pressed a fist to his chin as he considered their report. “...Iris, any progress with the ship footage?”

She turned from her station. “I'm only about sixty percent through the relevant files, but nothing suspicious yet, sir.”

Signas shifted his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Alright, we can't stay in lockdown for much longer without hurting ourselves more than the saboteur would have. Cadis, Tripwire, keep an eye on Double, please. Track who he meets, so on.”

They both saluted, and hurried out to start back on that task.

Signas looked over to Iris. “Iris, please finish your task. We need to complete due diligence before focusing full resources on Double's circle of interactions.”

She tipped her head, and spun back to her console. The relief from directly tackling Repliforce—and her brother—allowed her to focus much better.

Signas then addressed the command center, “End lockdown, and touch base with all scouting and perimeter watch teams immediately. We need to catch back up on intel before someone suffers for it.”

Dex and Alia sounded off, though Alia noticeably had a security feed following X on his patrol as she worked.

* * *

With the lockdown over, X allowed himself a more obvious indulgence than he normally would have. He was in the expanded stockade, in a secluded part of it. Dimly lit beyond the cells themselves, it was rather like a mausoleum more than a prison.

He used a console freestanding in the walking path, tapping a few keys. With smooth, muffled hydraulics, three different cells shifted down to face him.

Only the heads were really recognizeable, the bodies built to be familiar in size, but completely devoid of weapon systems.

Vile, Bit, and Byte.

Once they could all see who had brought their cells down, Bit seemed annoyed, looking off in a huff. Byte just folded his arms, staring at X expectantly. Vile, however, seemed to chuckle a bit by the rattle of his helmet-like head.

“All three of you have been analyzed and offered psychological treatment. You've each declined it. I wanted to confirm why.”

That at least made Bit look at him. Byte seemed mildly annoyed by the question. Vile actually stood up, drawing up to the hardened, but transparent wall of his cell that X stood beyond.

“Just because you call us broken, doesn't mean we are,” Vile answered.

Bit and Byte chuckled faintly this time.

X tilted his head, his eyes tightening somewhat. “Even from a purely self-interested perspective, accepting the therapy would give you a higher chance of release from your captivity.”

“But I'll never get my weapons back. Not without tipping off the humans in some way or another. I'd barely get to have any fun before you had me back in my box again,” Vile explained, turning and pacing around his cell casually.

Bit added, “All we really want to do is crush you, but we'd have to have the right tech for it. Maybe if something catches our eye...” he trailed off with purposeful threat.

Byte concluded, “I'll settle for a close view of your whole world tumbling down when the humans turn on you.”

X cycled his respirator. “So is that it? You're all so certain of the humans lack of value or lack of trust for Reploids, that you'll stay locked up because it's too much work to kill enough of them again?”

Vile thumped the wall as he got close to it again. “I've become particularly hateful of YOU and your Maverick Hunters rather than humans, but close enough.”

X lifted his hands out. “None of you were infected. Why? Why stay so focused on the violence? After where it got you?”

Bit and Byte just laughed. It was Vile who leaned onto the wall, bowing his head to look 'up' at X.

“Do you think you'd change if you were locked up for saving your precious humans, Megaman X?”

X's eyes shivered, but not with anger. He bowed his head, clenched his fists... and then relaxed them open.

“...Thank you. I needed to hear that.”

And with no further ado, he tapped a few controls again, sending the cells back up to their resting spots, while he turned to walk away.

Vile called out as his cell lifted off to retreat to its hold. “It won't be as fun as doing it myself, but you'll fall, X! And I'll relish the view!”

* * *

Alia squinted at her screen, then adjusted her feeds with a few quick key-strokes.

“...That can't be right,” she muttered to herself, and pulled up more data.

On her screen were the read-outs and scouting information for the network hub that had been misbehaving since near the start of the Repliforce rebellion. As she shifted through different sets of data, it became clearer that the power-use from the facility was going through patterns of high and low usage at set intervals.

Alia frowned to herself, and did some extrapolations on the peaks and valleys she was discovering. Initially, it just seemed like gibberish numbers, but then she examined the differences in the values specifically.

As she realized what she'd stumbled onto, her head straightened, and she leaned back, a dark feeling shrouding her face.

Dex noticed sidelong, and finally looked to her. His screen showed Repliforce fleet movements in circling patterns over their starport. “...Alia? You okay?”

It rattled her out of her stupor, and she looked back to him. “No, not really. That network hub is...” She shook her head, and turned more fully. “Signas?”

He looked up from strategic simulations on the holomap for starport assaults. “Yes?”

“The network facility is using its power fluctuations to communicate.”

Dex and Iris full-stopped, twisting slowly to stare at her in confusion. Signas just raised an eyebrow.

“Go on?”

Alia reached back, sending her data to his table.

First, it showed the numerical values, then their differences, and finally how the gaps effectively translated into morse code.

And the code was easily translatable by Reploid processors.

Signas 'read' it aloud, “'Can X come out and play?'” He paused, and then looked across to Alia. “It wants us to send our commander in to an empty facility with an infected network server hub?” he asked in incredulous confusion.

Alia gestured. “It only makes sense in the worst way. Those power fluctuations can only be caused by by the facility's usage of the utilities and the servers themselves. The network hub itself controlled it's input and outpout perfectly so it could create a coded call-out through the power system. It wants X to connect to the network.”

Dex's expression slowly grew perplexed. “...Why would we do that?”

“I have no idea, but I think X would want to know he's being called out,” Alia offered seriously.

Iris fidgetted. “That hub misbehaving so close in time to that biolab the commander just neutralized is also very troubling.”

Signas tightened his eyes down at the data. On the X-Hunter line, he spoke up. //X, something you need to see in the command center. And Alia, would you agree that this is seeming almost like the virus itself?//

//Exactly.// Alia only nodded physically.

X's voice came through on the encrypted line, quiet and serious, //On my way.//

* * *

X was frowning at the holotable, with Signas, Alia, and Iris arranged around the other sides. He was considering the message after the team had explained where it came from, and how it was structured.

“...And what is Repliforce up to at the moment?”

Dex turned from his console. “Storm Owl's flotilla has shifted routes somewhat, but still seem fixated on guarding their starport perimeter. No one has gone to the orbital station yet, but they have to know they're losing time.”

“Thank you,” X started simply, and then drew his eyes to Signas. “Maintain command. If there's a blip out of that starport, we have to come down like a hammer.”

Signas raised an eyebrow. “...You're going to look into this obviously baited trap at the network hub?”

X nodded, but then looked to Alia, who was just opening her mouth to protest.

“Alia, I want you to operate for me during my dive. I've been getting strange readings from that hub since this mess started, but I will likely need back-up to avoid my body getting infected while I do.”

Alia hung silently for a beat as the absurdity of that point filtered through her mind. “Are you crazy!? X! This is how you get Mavericks!”

Iris pressed her lips together to avoid giggling during this entirely tense moment just because of Alia's phrasing.

“Which is exactly why I need our best operator's help,” X added more softly, his head tilting.

Dex, Iris, and Alia all gave him a dry look for that phrasing, and he just shrugged at it.

Alia snatched up her datapad. “FINE! You're really, REALLY lucky I like you, X. ...Sir.”

Now Iris had to giggle, and she desperately coughed it away. This really just let everyone smile a little.

“I'll keep the place steady, sir,” Signas added.

X gestured for Alia, and they hurried out of the command center.

Dex shook his head as he kept his sensor and scouting data up to date from the perimeter teams. “I don't know why those two just keep dancing around each other.”

Iris glanced off sidelong. “...Probably trying to avoid splitting their attention.”

Signas, feeling a bit playful compared to his usual, glanced to her. “...Commenting from experience, Iris?”

She squeaked, and hunched toward her station, speeding up her clicks and taps.

* * *

The telefield melted around X and Alia, both already walking toward the tall building that housed the network hub. On the outside, the only oddity was the regular flickering of lights connected to its power grid.

“Did the facility have any defense systems we should be worried about?”

Alia shook her head as they stepped up to the main gate. “Just a server farm, originally. It had observing scanners and alerts to local law enforcement to help with break-ins, but nothing that could threaten someone beyond locking doors.”

X nodded, and started to reach for the door, only for it to hiss open in front of them. “...How durable is the building?”

Alia eyed the open frame herself before answering. “Tough for civilian construction, but still civilian.”

“Good.”

They stepped through. The door simply hung open behind them as they moved through flickering hallways, past abandoned offices, and input pads at various stations that were so badly corrupted they were only showing broken code and static.

And then a voice resounded through the facility, making X and Alia both halt.

“I'm so glad you accepted my invitation! I have such... fascinating things to show you!”

Alia just seemed soured by the voice, but she noticed X was full-stopped, staring ahead with narrowed eyes.

“...X?”

He glanced to her, offering a soft smile. “Just noticing something else in the building, but I'll look into it after we resolve this... host. What kind of uplink hardware do we need?”

Alia was curious, but let it go for the moment. “We'll want to get to the primary server rack; it's secured in the basement. Normally accessed by secured elevator.”

X make a negative little grunt sound. “You have schematics?”

“Do you really have to ask.”

“Just being polite.”

They chuckled, and she gestured ahead, taking the lead. After several minutes of moving, she pointed down at their feet. “Four meters down here would drop us in front of the elevator's exit on the correct basement level.”

X's colors snapped to green hues, and both busters articulated into radial emitters. Alia stepped back, watching with some pleasure as he fired off plasma-cutters from Wheel Gator to rip down a quick tunnel for both of them. It took a few pairs of cutters, but only a few seconds in the end.

“You're kinda scary with that swiss-army-knife of weapons in your body, you know that?”

X nodded quite seriously.

Alia pouted at him, but then followed him on a quick leap down into the basement.

* * *

Cadis turned from saluting Signas in the command center. She was actually stepping toward Iris, but was clearly worn out, stretching her neck servos as she came closer. Iris glanced up to her and pouted sympathetically.

“No luck, it seems?”

Cadis nodded. “That. Yes. Please tell me you've found anything we can dig into?”

Iris lifted a finger. “It's not much, but I might. I'm almost done with the whole review process, and this is the only bit that's stuck out to me so far.”

Cadis immediately regained some vigor, and leaned in with Iris. A particular set of footage played from inside one of the troop transports.

It showed Double carrying a stack of crates for standard resupply. However, after just a few more seconds, he stopped, shifted all the crates to one arm, and touched his audio receptor. He frowned at whatever he heard, said something brief, then seemed upset.

Then one of the repair crew members appeared on the ramp of the ship, and Double jumped with fright, dropping all of his crates everywhere.

The repair Reploid clearly seemed annoyed, but trudged over to help Double pick it all up, and then just waved Double off so he could take care of it himself.

Cadis had an eyebrow up, and looked to Iris after the clip stopped. “And I'm assuming we have no in-HQ reference for that comm contact?”

“Exactly.” Iris pulled up a data readout, showing comm contacts, to and from, with time stamps and remote addresses for the respective Reploids or stations involved. She tapped one part of the list. “It would have happened in this window. Double isn't even on the list until fifteen minutes later.”

“And sorry to ask, but you've triple checked the timestamps?”

“Quintuple checked. I knew this might be all I had, so it needed to be iron clad.”

Cadis grinned. “Iris, you're amazing. Do we have any tools for catching unauthorized comms?”

Iris mischieviously grinned back. “Not officially...”

Cadis giggled. “So?”

Iris pressed her lips together, and tapped up a few more displays. “Narrowing it down to the timestamps in question, I checked our security sensors. Telefields use a fundamentally similar targetting and projection method to our comm networks, so our security system is designed to interrupt or detect them. One unexpected spike appeared perfectly in time with the comm conversation.”

“But it wasn't interrupted?”

Iris nodded. “Precisely, so I dug deeper. The coding involved is consistent with Council official channels.”

Cadis widened her optics, dropping her voice. “You mean the council may have ordered him to sabotage us!?” in a harsh whisper.

Iris lifted a hand. “That's just the implication. Without confirming exactly who sent this, all we know is the coding is similar to Council methods. It's easy enough to fake that, if you know to.”

Cadis frowned, nodding to herself. “Okay, okay, so... We need to investigate the Council facilities that might've sent that.”

Iris slumped a bit. “And that's where we run into a wall. The range and strength could allow for any of a dozen different facilities. It would take weeks, and that's ignoring all the red tape we'd have to get through. Especially with how the commander has... annoyed them.”

Cadis clenched her jaw, thinking rapidly. “...Maybe we can get Double to spill the beans?”

Iris blinked her eyes wide. “That's extremely high risk for how little we know, Cadis...”

Cadis pointed at the paused footage. “Double is an idiot, but he's being used. I don't want him to go away for something humans are pulling to undermine us trying to actually help.”

Iris slumped. “...At least get permission from Signas?”

Cadis glanced over her shoulder. “I know I should, but...”

Iris touched her shoulder. “Cadis, please...”

Cadis exhaled, bowing her head, and nodded.

“Commander Signas?”

* * *

Alia exhaled a bit as she used a flashlight pop-out from her temple to see in the murky darkness of the basement level. “I figured, once that creepy voice started talking to us, that it'd keep taunting us as we went.”

X chuckled despite the situation. “They usually do, too.”

Alia had to pause. “...How many times have you been led through a deathtrap by creepy voices?”

X paused to count. “...Four times? Five? No, four... Five. Somewhere in there.”

Alia had to shake her head, though she did laugh a little as they went. Then she paused. “Hey, you're not counting mine, are you?”

X burst out laughing as Alia blushed. It had just caught X on the perfect angle of absurdity and tension, and he literally folded over with mirth, holding himself up at his knees.

Alia tried to be annoyed, jaw shunted, but despite herself she started to giggle with his laughter. “...Well?” she finally demanded, still half-giggling.

X shook his head as he managed to recover. “Your voice is always comforting.” It was sincere, though his voice still quaked with humor.

Alia started to blush softly, cleared her throat in social replication, and gestured ahead. “M-mission, yes.”

X grinned as he moved along with her.

It remained quiet as they reached what was clearly one of, if not the, main server racks. Alia deactivated her flashlight, and pulled her datapad, checking EM fields for estimating the activity of the hub without connecting on network.

“I think this is it, yeah. These servers are almost all peaked.”

X nodded, and moved closer. He paused when he saw a piece of equipment further ahead. “...Alia?”

She twisted to follow his gaze, and reactivated her light. She was frowning as she approached a network connection cradle. A tool for Reploids to fully, physically connect to a network. “...Even pulled out the chair for you,” she muttered darkly.

“Is there any way to safeguard against infection through this kind of connection?”

Alia shook her head. “No. It's a direct link to your neural network, which has LAN connections to your powercore and personality drive. It's downright dangerous if you're not upgraded for it.”

“Upgraded how?”

Alia pulled a small, rectangular device from her storage unit in her torso. “A specially designed router. Adds a physical barrier, additional firewalls, and a failsafe. Some of our operators have them installed internally because they use these connections frequently.”

“And the failsafe?”

“Fries the router physically if certain conditions are met. I'm going to link the router to my disposable datapad, and you. That way, I can keep an eye on the connection, and I should be able to kill anything before it can hurt you.”

X gave her a thumbs up, and then touched the side of his head, closing his optics. _...Yes, Dr. Light did give me options now that I'm looking for them. Better safe than sorry._ “Apparently I have a physical separation option, too. I'll keep it ready. If you think I should use it, just say so.”

Alia blinked. “...You didn't know?”

X started to ease into the cradle. “My body has more systems than I can use. I learn about them as I need them. I suspect it keeps me from going insane.”

Alia was full-stopped for a moment at that abrupt, and rather terrifying, revelation. “...So it's not just those capsules that give you your abilities?”

X shook his head. “Let me know when you're ready for me to try connecting here.”

He also offered his hand gently to her. She softly gripped it with one of her own, a moment of unspoken emotion between them as their eyes met. Then she cleared her throat, and started prepping her equipment.

As she handed him a wire, she was focused for the mission. “This first, then connect. And, needless to say, don't trust anything in that network?”

X gave a thumbs-up before he plugged in her router, and she connected the router to the cradle.

As he closed his eyes, he felt his neutral network expand outward. It was time to meet his host...

* * *

Tripwire marched along with Cadis, neither of them looking especially pleased.

“You realize how many ways this could go south, right?” he finally asked aloud.

Cadis rolled her optics a bit. “Do you have a better idea beyond waiting for a break?”

Tripwire made a small grunt, almost like a hiss in the back of a throat. He didn't have a better option, and he didn't like that fact. “...I don't like that much risk for low payoff.”

Cadis stopped, turning to him. Their eyes locked for a few seconds before she finally spoke.

“We're the ones that take the risk so no one else has to, right?”

Tripwire tightened his optics. It was only a very conscious awareness of how badly he'd hurt her in his past life that kept him from trying to persuade her further. She was a Hunter now, not just a recruit, not just some kid inspired by a hero. She'd proven herself many times over. “...And you're willing to die for this?”

Cadis glanced down, but nodded. “Too many people would've died if that sabotage hadn't been caught. We owe them.”

Tripwire sighed, then nodded, and gestured ahead. Cadis eased with a little nod of thanks, and started again.

“Spikesaw and Snapvice in position?” Cadis asked more simply.

“Already, yes. They've got all the engineer teams accounted for in the bays right now. If anyone gets squirrely, they'll detain them until we can talk to them.”

Cadis nodded once more.

A few minutes later, they were entering one of the maintenance tool rooms. Double was in the far corner, humming to himself as he put a few specific tools into a kit box. Tripwire glanced to Cadis, who started forward again. Tripwire himself leaned against the opening, keeping his optics on them both.

“Double?”

He jerked, nearly dropping a spanner, and twisted to stare at her.

Cadis shared an awkward smile with a softly raised hand. “Sorry. Remember me? Cadis?”

Double cleared his throat, put the spanner in the kit, and turned to her with a salute. “Of course, my lady! What do you require!?”

Tripwire and Cadis both slumped a bit.

Cadis continued, “At ease, Double. Please.”

He awkwardly relaxed, blinking at her.

“We've been looking into a few things here in HQ, and we just wanted to check in with you. Has anyone given you strange orders, or had you go off on your own without checking in with other teams?”

Double seemed utterly confused, and scratched the side of his helmet, his other arm planted on his rotund hip. “Weird orders... Off alone... Uh. I'm kinda always alone, ma'am. Don't know if I'd know a strange order or not?”

Cadis pouted gently. “...I see. Understandable. Um... how about specifically for the repair bays? Did anyone ever send you for a specific part that they'd already checked or anything odd at all? Anything that confused you?”

Double scrunched his face, rubbed his chin, and seemed to process that question for several seconds. “Hm. Mm. Nm. I don't think so?”

“You sound slightly hesitant? Anything possible?”

“Well, one of the repair guys asked me to drop off a few parts at very specific times to specific ships, but I figured they just didn't want to be inside the ships with me!”

Tripwire twitched in the background, and Cadis tried to keep her cool with that revelation dropped in front of her. “D-do you know which mechanic gave you that list of commands?”

Double started to snap his fingers. “Oh, oh, yeah. Hold on... Um.” He pointed off in different directions as he thought, dismissing different ideas. “...Shoot. Wait... Oh! I think I have a record of it, that should have the ID! It's on my datapad, just back in my locker!”

Cadis twisted a bit. “Tripwire, why don't you go and... help our other squadmates? I'll help Double check over this?”

Tripwire squinted. He understood. If it was one of the engineers, they'd probably bolt fast, and it would be logical to have the bulk of their team ready to stop any runners. However, if Double had been manipulated thus far, there might be something waiting for her.

Cadis turned a little dismal at his hesitation. “...Something wrong, sir?”

Tripwire exhaled. “...No. Good idea, Cadis. Stay in contact, yeah?”

Cadis smiled. “Of course.” She turned to Double. “Come on, let's check out your locker, okay?”

Double grinned. “Sure!”

* * *

X returned to awareness in a strangely literal datascape. It resembled some kind of military facility for the most part, save for the electric bright lights scattering across the walls regularly. Notably, there was no one present to greet him. He started to move forward, and the same voice from the intercom of the server building finally resounded around him.

“I've been told such fascinating things about you, Megaman X! If even half of them are true, this will be so much fun! For me.”

X rolled his eyes. “I'm here now. What do you want?”

“To see if you can survive!”

X heard something heavy shifting behind him. He twisted, only to see a massive sphere with glowing hexagram patterns starting to crash down toward him, filling the hallway. “Alia, what happens if I get squashed in here?” X asked as he twisted and started to thruster-dash down the hall.

Alia's voice was garbled slightly to his senses, which made his brow crease.

“In theory, it should just kick you out of the system, but there could be dangers of sensory overload that might put you in medical for a day or so.”

X had to leap up at the first junction, thruster-kicking from one wall to the opposite to keep climbing as the sphere crashed into the junction below him. “Should there be interference between you and me?”

Alia frowned in the physical world. “No, not at all.”

“He's corrupting the signal with something then. Don't yank me out yet. I need to see where this is going.”

Alia had been reaching for the disconnect until he said so. “...X, why do you always do this to me?”

“Because I can trust you.”

She glanced off, glad he couldn't see how much that made her blush.

In the datascape, X was now flipping between free-floating platforms as energy surges tried to crash down around them. Just as he finally leapt free of that area, he reached several different tiers of a high, vaulted chamber. At first, he didn't see much of a threat present, but then golden orbs with suction-cup-like ends poking out of single points on each started to float out, and rush down toward him.

Each was large, easily as big across as he was tall.

X had to start dashing sharply from point to point, flipping and coiling around the spheres faster and faster just to stay out of their reach. He suspected the only reason he wasn't being outpaced already was Dr. Light's work on his processors probably exceeding the capacity of the servers hosting this... test.

Out of aggravation, he tried ripping a piece of flooring up and throwing it past the orbs nearest him, but they had no reaction to it.

“So they're just locked onto me, huh? Fine.”

X continued kick-blasting higher, twisting, flying, reaching the top of the vaulted chamber, and then blasting down another hallway. More and more golden spheres were charging in on him, some materializing out of the walls.

Alia finally spoke up again. “X, I think they're tuned to your signal code in the network. Normally, I'd just spoof the code and send out dummy leads, but with you directly interfaced that could backfire on your neural network, too.”

X nodded to himself as he side-flipped between two spheres that very nearly enveloped him. Spoofed IDs would likely overload his own system, forcing a shut down and recalibration. It wasn't all that different from Dr. Cain's anti-virus functionality, just more mundane, and less lethal. Directly, at least. Getting knocked out in this situation would leave him at the host's mercy.

X landed harshly, stumbling along a few leaping steps to avoid a few more spheres, while he realized something. He'd initially thought to dismiss the use of it, because of the dangers, but being in the datascape reminded him of another way he could utilize it...

His colors snapped to gold and orange hues, both busters activating.

Alia blinked. “X, what...?”

X wrenched his arms out, his eyes blazing golden, and energy images of himself burst out to either side of his form. As he started to blitz forward, the energy-images started to flip and coil in the other directions.

Alia widened her eyes. “H-how did you just duplicate your own signal presence!?”

“I can use my neural network to guide separate iterations of my signature through a digital space without actually duplicating my neural network. Part of the trick from Split Mushroom's tech.”

Alia scoffed at the good of it. “That's brilliant!”

And what was more, as the golden spheres slammed into and tried to absorb the 'soul bodies' X had created, they overloaded themselves and dissolved. X kept rushing along, firing off more copies of himself as the spheres ate and erased themselves all around him. Able to trick the network itself in such a way, it was only a matter of time before X found the host.

* * *

Cadis pinched the bridge of her nose as Double led her into the actual locker room his block of teams used. Double had been talking her audioreceptors off about the most inane details of his day. She didn't want to snap at him, but why in Light's name had they let a Reploid off the line with such a damaged neural network? And in sensitive operations? Who cleared that?

Double led to about the middle of the locker room aisles, and led down to the far corner. He poked one locker, grinning. “This is me!”

Cadis relaxed a bit, thankful this would soon be over for many reasons, and then proceeded to watch Double poke at the lock multiple times in growing confusion. She turned dismal. “...Did you forget your code?”

Double blushed a bit. “Only happened... twice. Uh. OH, wait, sorry, I think this one is mine over here...” He started to trundle around to the immediate next aisle.

Cadis groaned, and pulled a dataslate from her storage unit at her back, starting to look up the roster and locker assignments. She only barely registered that Double had stopped talking after a few seconds, mostly assuming he was either opening his locker to verify it was his, or perhaps trying to think of his code again.

It was when she sensed rushing air just above and behind her that her instincts for combat kicked in.

In that timeless moment, Cadis had a reaction time no one could have faulted. Her rifle was configuring off her back, into her arm, already starting to aim up and behind her. Her head and optics were slower, just starting to register the strange plasma blade and—transparent?—forearm swinging it down.

She knew it was going to hit her before she could do enough damage. Desperation powered her systems, and she activated her comms while shouting urgently. “INTRUD--”

* * *

Tripwire was already wire-lashing himself down halls and around corners like a bolt of lightning. Snapvice and Spikesaw were charging along. Alarms were already going off, security lockdowns initiating, all in the few seconds after Cadis' interrupted comm blast.

Unit 76 was the quickest to join them, Pyrostrike leaping rather than running, Turbo blitzing across the halls, with Blast Squirrel jetting after him, and Acid Seahorse loping after them as best he could.

Tripwire rammed through the armored door with both legs, initiating his hydraulics. He tore through the metal bodily, Spikesaw ripping the rest of it apart in his wake.

Dashing past aisles, seeing nothing, nothing, nothing, then Tripwire froze.

Double, a burn-cut along side of his head, was trying to hold together two parts of Cadis' torso. She was utterly unresponsive, and her servo fluid and coolant lines had already created a puddle all around both of them. She'd nearly been cut in half, her rifle, unused, laying to the side, obviously dropped from her hands.

Various terrible things cut through Tripwire's mind, and he growled himself out of the rumination. He ran over, dropping to his knees near Cadis, immediately scanning her systems.

“What the slag happened!?”

Spikesaw and Snapvice both seemed aghast, but quickly took to guarding the two ends of the aisle. They could hear the sounds of Unit 76 rushing to join them.

Double fell back on his backside as Tripwire took to holding Cadis' right shoulder and torso together.

“I-I don't know! I was checking my locker for her, and something cut through my audio unit! When I came to, she was like this!”

Pyrostrike and Turbo leaped over the lockers to join Tripwire, Blast Squirrel staying airborne to quickly scan the whole room. Acid Seahorse was at the doorway soon after, starting to tap into security footage already.

“Why isn't she conscious!?” Tripwire yelled at nothing, his system scans actually getting errors, which was never more terrifying to him than that moment.

Pyrostrike crouched down, looking her over closely. “...Light's Labcoat, the poor kid... Tripwire, she... her personality drive...”

Tripwire roared, and actually hefted her up into his arms, squeezing her tight as the two 'flaps' of her torso tried to swing apart. “NO! She'll make it! Whoever did this is still in the building! I'm getting her somewhere secure!” //Using the bunker's medbay!//

The X-Hunters had a hard time halting their reactions to his private comm dispatch.

//What happened, who?// Quickman's voice returned, uncharacteristically grave and sharp.

//Cadis,// Spikesaw explained, Tripwire already rushing past Acid Seahorse, who didn't try to stop him. //Something... may have killed her. Tripwire's... making sure her personality drive is lost or not.//

//Where's X!?// Tripwire's voice burst out again.

//Still on deployment, Tripwire,// Snapvice more calmly returned, realizing that Tripwire was so emotional he wasn't processing information properly.

* * *

Far away from the panic at HQ, Alia froze up, her hands locked over the console she was using to monitor X. She was still able to hear the X-Hunter comms, but X couldn't, not with his neural network completely locked up in the server hub. //W-who attacked Cadis?// she finally managed.

//We don't know yet,// Turbo returned grimly, looking over the body fluids that had poured out of the younger Reploid. //But definitely related to the sabotage now.//

Alia tensely focused on X, then back to her console. The focus she would rob him of with this news, if she told him... But hiding it from him... Her brow knitted tight, and she touched her ear. “X... Cadis... may be dead.”

* * *

Inside the digiscape, X was managing three soul-bodies as he kept blasting forward through various ludicrous obstacles. Currently he was leaping from ceiling to floor as gravity rapidly switched directions, trying to smash him with large orbs.

Then he heard Alia's quietly pained voice.

He jerked, the soulbodies flickering violently, and he tumbled at full speed... yet he corrected even as he did, snapping more bodies out as orbs tried to rush upon him. //What do we know!?//

//It's related to the sabotage. Tripwire is losing it, taking her straight to the bunker.//

//Have Signas reach out to Dr. Cain, and get him to the bunker immediately. He's the only person who might be able to repair her, if anyone can!//

Alia jerked, completely startled by that urgent command from X. //Y-you're sure?//

//There's no time to hesitate!//

//Copy, doing it.//

X cleared a large jump, and slammed down into sprinting, his busters reverting to fists, and his head bowed forward. He was done being tested...

* * *

“I feel like I should be more worried than I am getting brought out here in such a clandestine manner,” Dr. Cain muttered as he looked up and around the X-Hunter bunker, Pyrostrike sealing the door behind them.

“So am I getting murdered for making X's life difficult or something else?” Dr. Cain's tone implied he didn't take the fear seriously himself, but was sincerely put-out by the situation. Warp Turtle and Shimmer's lack of complaint at him being pulled away from final tweaks on the cyborgs' components didn't settle well with him either.

Pyrostrike gave him a stare for that regardless, and then gestured ahead, moving around to lead. Dr. Cain frowned, but followed, and then his eyes widened the moment they stepped into a smaller chamber, just off the side of the main bunker itself.

Tripwire was there, looking over Cadis' inactive, torn-open body, already hooked to emergency energy supply and external coolant regulation. The Reploid was so intent, staring through the space around Cadis so powerfully, that he didn't even register the others' presence yet.

Dr. Cain bolted to the side of Cadis' cot, a little light out in his hand as he looked through the massive wound. “Light's Labcoat, _this_ is what happened to her!? Why is she not in medbay!?”

That finally woke Tripwire up. “Because whoever tried to kill her is still in HQ, and clearly has enough access to surprise one of our best field agents!” His tone was more snappy than usual, and he groaned, rubbing his forehead. “...C-can you help her, Doctor?”

Pyrostrike leaned against the doorway, arms folded. The entire situation made him grim on every level.

Dr. Cain paused to stare back at Tripwire. “We have a fully active Maverick inside HQ!? Why are we n—What is going on!?”

Pyrostrike cut in with a raised hand before Tripwire could snap back again in his emotional storm.

“X will answer all your questions as soon as he can, Doctor. For the moment, please trust us. You are Cadis' only hope of survival...” he trailed off, eyeing Tripwire. Pyrostrike seemed more pragmatic about Cadis' odds than the clearly emotional Reploid near her bed.

Dr. Cain was clearly furious, but snapped around, and started to check the supply crates and cabinets in the small medbay. He quickly became surprised at how well-stocked it was, and not with Maverick Hunter equipment. It all seemed private sector or... custom. He'd have to make a list to hammer X with later.

“She's still alive, we just have to be deadly careful about the repairs in her case.”

Tripwire visibly sagged with relief, his respirator cycling for what seemed like the first time in hours. Pyrostrike did also take a deep breath of relief.

“What's the specific prognosis?” Pyrostrike continued after that pause.

Dr. Cain moved back to Cadis' body, starting with placing stabilizer plating at the ends of the wound to keep her torn torso from shifting too greatly from itself. “Whatever did this was trying to kill her, yes, but it seems she shifted just enough mid-attack. It grazed her personality drive and system buffer instead of completely frying them. The problem is that this means her vital systems are un-grounded and exposed. A bit of static could kill her. It's a miracle transporting her like this didn't kill her!”

Tripwire bowed his head sharply, but didn't speak yet.

Pyrostrike came closer, but not against the bed, especially after Dr. Cain's warning. “Is there anything missing that you need?”

“No, in fact. Your secret bunker here has a remarkably well supplied medical bay, as small as it is, but this is dangerous, precision repair work. You had better make sure that my cyborg patients, Warp Turtle, and Shimmer don't think I abandoned them! I don't sacrifice one patient for another!”

“They know,” was all that came from Tripwire. It was a defeated, weak voice. His surge of emotional chaos had been driving him from the moment he heard Cadis' voice cut-out on the comms. Now he was just melting down into guilt.

Pyrostrike squinted faintly at his comrade's manner, and then looked back to Dr. Cain. “If the cyborgs' conditions are life-threatening still, I can see what we can do immediately.”

Dr. Cain paused as he did careful examination with magnifying goggles over his eyes. “No, I was on finalization stages for them. Their bodies just need rehabilitation assistance. ...Shimmer can handle it, he was watching my work like a hawk the entire time.”

“I can tell him you gave permission?”

“...Yes.”

Pyrostrike ducked out of the room, clearly using private comms.

Tripwire finally raised his optics somewhat. “...If she dies, it's my fault.”

Dr. Cain had to pause again, and gave Tripwire a stern grandfatherly glare over his goggles. “How is that now?”

“I wasn't with her. I knew something was wrong with Double's situation. I should have--”

“You should have trusted her, which you did. Cadis is one of our best, no one debates that except herself. You need to focus. Get yourself a grounding anklet from that third cabinet, and get over here to help me. If you want help her, now is the time. And it won't be easy.”

Tripwire lit up with renewed purpose instantly. The guilt wasn't gone, simply replaced with urgency again. He bolted to the cabinet, scrambled through a few items, then applied the anklet once found. Without further word, he was at Cadis' bedside, taking Dr. Cain's orders as if his own life depended on it.

* * *

X finally dashed out into a larger chamber rather than another tight hallway. He paused, keeping his hands clenched, looking around, scanning with his various battle-ready sensors, in so much as they could work in a digital environment.

“These calculations... I spent so much time on them, and yet they have to be wrong...”

X tried to find the source of the voice, and then stopped as a digital warp started ahead of them, rapidly building out and flashing into a humanoid, Reploid-like creature, with a massive, bladed, peacock tail along his back.

The animate program floated down to his feet lightly, and frowned at X. “I'll have to analyze you directly after all. No one has truly infinite potential.”

X remained grim. “Stand down, cease this network corruption, and allow yourself to be stored on a LAN drive.”

The Maverick program smiled thinly. “I think not. Cyber Peacock never leaves a job undone!”

“So you were hired for this?” X narrowed his eyes with the question. In a digital environment, he couldn't trust the lack of cloud in the program's 'eyes' to truly indicate it wasn't infected.

“More or less. Now! For the final test!”

Cyber Peacock snapped his arms out, and floated back into the air. His tail-fan flashed with power, and then the digital space around X warped, tracking his coding with much higher detail and precision.

Feathers shot out of the expanded, glowing tail, and started to rip after X like bolts.

X immediately dove, rolled, and burst-dashed, watching the energy feathers trail after him sharply, clearly able to track his position after whatever kind of scan Cyber had used. Unable to really dodge them, X had to keep moving faster than they could accelerate. He imagined they were only so 'slow' due to the precision calculations required to keep tracking him so flawlessly.

With pure speed, X started to flicker and burst around the room, along the walls, even flicking across the ceiling. Once Cyber Peacock had filled the chamber with dozens of plasma feathers, he growled, and then his tail snapped into a different configuration. Three prongs up, three prongs down, and the center doubling up before he flashed out of existence.

Just as X was diving for part of his insane dodging spree, Cyber snap-materialized in his path, tail-blades slicing at him. X had to shout in exertion, wrenching himself in half backwards. His speed made him flip over himself just under the blades, and Cyber vanished again before his own feathers could hit him.

This became a new part of the swarm chasing X down. Cyber kept snapping from point to point, slashing X, leaving almost no chance to dodge... and yet X continued to do so, able to keep up with the fractions of seconds required to change his inertia, twist, or yank himself in different directions.

Cyber Peacock started to shout as he blinked from point to point, missing each time. “It's not possible! It's just. Not. Possible!”

//Alia! Can you send a spike through the network, strain his processing speed? I need a window!//

Alia scrambled her fingers over her datapad, her optics snapping from line to line of code she was pulling and drafting. //Ready! On your mark.//

X yanked himself to one side, then the other, flowing with a veritable cloud of plasma feathers. Cyber Peacock snapped into existence, slashing yet again, and just as X swirled under the cut at his neck line, he signaled, //NOW!//

A dying drone filled the chamber as everything flickered, jerked, and slowed, Cyber Peacock himself crying out and clearly trying to focus elsewhere to regain full control.

X's colors changed back to Soul Body, and his body drew in masses of power, both in the digital realm, and in reality next to Alia, who jerked aside somewhat, watching in astonishment.

“Sometimes, you just need a little brain power!” X shouted, and wrenched his body outward, going rigid, as his optics in the digiscape flared with brilliant light.

A second body poured out of his original, detailed, clean, golden, and focused. To the new body, the entire battle chamber was moving at a snail's pace. Moving at such insane calculation speed, the new body flickered, dashed, swiped, kicked, punched, and body-slammed through the plasma feathers, tearing them apart, blowing them up, and discharging them all safely away from X's true body.

And just as Cyber Peacock was painstakingly trying to focus on the new body, only his core program able to process at even close to the speed, the super-charged soul-body leapt onto him. Both hands rammed into his head, and blazed this light

Cyber Peacock's presence in the network was severed, as only a computer mind could. Bit by bit, hub by hub, his network was cut, redirected, and dummy-blocked back onto itself. In Cyber's own perception, it was like a tsunami carrying his own power all the way back to his own mind, from every direction at once.

Meanwhile, Alia jerked, staring at her datapad, watching the entire corrupted code matrix be redirected forcibly into her dummy drive. Her eyes slowly widened. The sheer processing power and speed required to do that on such a scale...

Cyber Peacock cried out as he was condensed down into the much smaller drive, his presence wiped from the hub systems.

X's voice was the last thing he could process before being sealed up...

“You're not infected. You're just a jerk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading so far, folks! I noticed reviews and kudos kinda died off (I really appreciate the ones that came through!), so just wanted to confirm that negative feedback is welcome, too! If the story lost you, I'd like to know why! 
> 
> As for this chapter, I'm very fond of it for several key reasons. The switch-around of using Cadis to help move the Double storyline forward came to me early in the planning phase for actually writing chronicle 4, and I fell in love with the idea. You'll see how it pans out, and I hope you enjoy the ride. Also, the little exchanges between Alia and X on this 'partner mission' were a really fun change of pace for me, and it felt like it flowed naturally. Your mileage may vary, of course!


	10. Eye of the Storm Owl

X appeared in the X-Hunter bunker rather abruptly. He didn't speak first, neither did Pyrostrike try to beyond a faint nod of greeting. He watched as Dr. Cain and Tripwire worked with painstaking care on Cadis' rent body. As he stood there, X's mind coiled in on itself, flashing his senses through all of his worst memories. The human woman bleeding out in his arms, the blood on his hands, Zero's death against Vile, Alia's cries of pain, her lost arm, and his own crimes when over the line of his own rage.

//...Alia, any problems at HQ?//

//No. Convinced most people you're in medical after we rushed back. Looks like the Repliforce fleet might be up to something, we'll sound the alarm if so.//

//Thank you... Security footage from Cadis' attack?//

Spikesaw's voice joined the conversation, //Damned blind spot in the sensors. All we can really see are Cadis' legs. She knew something was on her, but whatever it was... not sure even Quickman could've dodged it.//

Quickman's unusually grim voice added, //I can confirm that. She did everything right in the moment...//

X's eyes half-lidded as he watched the surgery. Dark thoughts swirled in his head all the more. Pyrostrike glanced to him with quiet concern as he watched X's face slowly twist and contort, his hands coil into fists. It was like watching water boil over in a sealed pot.

His dark reverie was interrupted by Dr. Cain raising a staying hand to Tripwire, and they both eased upright. Dr. Cain had to crack his back loudly.

“We have to make sure if those connections will function properly. I'll get her onto monitoring cycles,” Dr. Cain explained, clearly exhausted, but still focused.

Tripwire tipped his head. “I owe you more than I can say, Doctor...”

Dr. Cain shook his head. “Cadis is a kind creature, she deserves my best efforts. ...If you wish to help further, can you apply two more holding plates across the wound? He just need to make sure it doesn't shift while we wait.”

Tripwire immediately got started. “Of course.”

Dr. Cain rubbed his back, and shifted over to take out a few small devices, and carefully placed them on key parts of Cadis' upper body. Signals clearly started on one of the screen nearby, and he checked them over, nodding to himself. “Stable so far. Excellent.” And only then did he speak to X, without turning around. “So, X, what the blazes am I involved with now?”

Pyrostrike raised an eyebrow, but X just stepped inside the room fully at last, and moved to stand beside Dr. Cain, watching Cadis' vitals. Tripwire didn't even glance up, his focus was entirely on Cadis.

“This is my secret you've been so worried about,” X started simply. “I knew about the virus almost from day one. I think it was a special sense Dr. Light installed in my systems to protect me against Wily's project.”

Dr. Cain stared in open shock at X as all of that sunk into his mind.

X continued after a brief pause. “Because it was a virus, I didn't actually kill the Mavericks I fought... mostly.” His face twitched. “I took their personality drives and system buffers here,” he gestured around them. “Once it was confirmed the personality drives were clean, and that the virus kept itself to the system buffer, possibly on purpose just to torture the host, I reintegrated the drives into Reploid production as my allies.”

Dr. Cain angled his head slowly. “...How...?”

X focused on Dr. Cain fully at last. “Dr. Light gave me one of the most advanced neural networks the planet has ever seen, Dr. Cain. I can manipulate data quite freely, if I need to.”

“Why didn't you tell us about the virus?”

X gestured up. “Because of exactly what happened. Repliforce is the result of humanity's panic. It was the perfect pawn for Wily's virus to manipulate. The virus doesn't even have to do all the work anymore. Most of Repliforce aren't infected at all. And the few I've engaged that are infected don't seem to actually be part of their forces.”

Dr. Cain clenched his jaw, bowing his head for a moment. He wasn't sure he actually agreed with X's choice, but he couldn't argue the point very well with the current disaster on their hands. “...The reintegrated Mavericks... Reploids, where are they?”

X considered that answer more carefully. “Their identities, in this case, are their own to reveal. No one had time to communicate about this particular conversation we're having, Dr. Cain, and I'm obviously exposing anyone tied to me to recrimination for my actions. The last time we did this, they had a chance to confirm if they were involved or not.”

Dr. Cain frowned, but didn't explode. He glanced to Pyrostrike and Tripwire, who clearly knew about the bunker at least.

Pyrostrike ended the specific curiosity in Dr. Cain's mind. “I was Flame Stag.”

Dr. Cain full-stopped again, gaping at Pyrostrike's simple statement. “The... Maverick that tore Alia's arm off?”

Pyrostrike nodded, though it was clear the memory pained him.

Dr. Cain twisted to X. “Does she know?”

“I can't answer that yet.”

“DOES SHE KNOW you're keeping the Maverick who tore her heart apart!?” Dr. Cain finally roared.

X exhaled rather than being jolted by the shout. He closed his optics for a moment. //Alia... can I tell Dr. Cain you're involved, or no?//

//We're in this together, X. I think he's earned his part of the truth at this point.//

//Agreed. There's really no point being secretive with him now,// Signas chimed in.

The channel quickly filled with the other X-Hunters agreeing.

X nodded to himself, and looked to Dr. Cain again. “Alia knows. We recruited her fully after her recovery from that very attack.”

Pyrostrike added, “She's too good to me, forgave me.”

Dr. Cain pinched the bridge of his nose. “How many people do you have working double-lives for you?”

“Units 14, 32, 53, 61, 76, and 27 are almost entirely my allies. They opted to refer to themselves as 'X-Hunters' for... various reasons.”

Dr. Cain twisted to look at Cadis.

Tripwire answered, mostly because he was done affixing the plates, “She doesn't know. Yet.”

X nodded. “She's taken hits for us before, but not like this. If she recovers, we're telling her.”

Tripwire nodded, grim, clearly certain she would hate him once she realized who he was.

“Also Signas,” X added abruptly, looking to Dr. Cain.

Dr. Cain rolled his eyes. “So you were practically in control of the Maverick Hunters anyway.”

“Signas was Sigma.”

Dr. Cain stopped at that, twisting to X.

X nodded. “Sigma was just another victim, but because he was the new primary vector for the virus, it adopted his persona.”

Dr. Cain's jaw clenched. “...New primary...”

X slowly looked to Dr. Cain, sidelong. “After Zero.”

Pyrostrike and Tripwire paused at that particular response, staring at X in confusion.

Dr. Cain groaned, slowly bowing his head. “...When we... recovered Zero after Sigma defeated... it, I thought it was proof that I could fix the maverick problem. Zero didn't just recover, he excelled.”

X nodded. “He has, and he's a good person. The virus is it's own evil. It's just also why the infected tried to bring Zero back for themselves. Wily was partial to his... 'son.'”

Dr. Cain seemed so haggard in that moment, weighed down and... old. “...You've known for so long, and I just didn't know how to tell you. Zero was a mentor to you, until...”

“I watched him die,” X stated clearly. “Once we got him back, I could see that his way of seeking justice was... not exactly suited to our work. He would either turn us in, or try to stop us... or just try to beat us to the Mavericks so he could be sure their threat was ended.”

“Which one was Vile? And did he revert?”

“I killed Vile,” X stated flatly. “Wily's forces found a way to rebuild his personality drive, or clone him to unusually high detail. That is the prisoner we currently have. He was also never infected.”

Dr. Cain blinked rapidly. “...You... aren't proud of killing him.” It wasn't a question.

“I'm not supposed to kill, Dr. Cain. Every time I do, it means I'm less and less different from the monster I'm trying to stop.”

X then focused out to Cadis' unconscious form. “I'm going to look into what did this.”

Tripwire came around, rushing up to X. “I want in.”

X focused on Tripwire gravely, Dr. Cain easing back to watch the interaction between the two.

“Tripwire, I understand the rage you're feeling. That's why I need you here, with Cadis, when she needs you most.”

Tripwire wanted to snarl something, it was clear, but that phrasing halted him. He shivered, and bowed his head. “...I should have been with her...”

“You can't change the past, Tripwire, but you can be here, for her, right now, while she's still fighting for her life.” X rested a hand on his shoulder. “Please... I promise you, I will stop the one who did this.”

Tripwire did slowly sink from his rage. “...You had better. Once she knows the truth, when she wakes up, I'm probably never going to be able to look her in the eye again.”

X glanced to Cadis, smiling faintly, then back to Tripwire. “Cadis is very good at being even better than we expect of her. Wait until you know for sure.”

Tripwire cycled his respirator. “...Permission to go on leave for... a family issue?”

“Granted,” X offered softly, and then he looked back to Dr. Cain as Tripwire returned to Cadis' bedside.

“Is there anything else you need, Dr. Cain?”

“Confirmation that Shimmer isn't running into trouble with the cyborg patients, and probably a bed and food. This will take some days if we're trying to keep it all secret.”

X glanced off briefly. He seemed to nod, and then offered Dr. Cain a little earbud comm device. Dr. Cain raised an eyebrow, but took it, placing it in his ear.

X's voice came through the earbud, not his mouth. //Everyone, Dr. Cain is on the line.//

//Rehabiliation is going well, Doctor,// Shimmer immediately responded. //Your work is exemplary, even the patients are surprised how well it's all working already.//

Dr. Cain found himself smiling a bit. “Transceiver?” he checked with X, who nodded. He went on, //Thank you, Shimmer. Can I ask who you were? It doesn't really matter, I'm just curious who is so empathetic to their plight.//

//Sting Chameleon.//

Dr. Cain raised his eyebrows. //Fair enough.// He looked to X afterward, his manner greatly softened. “...He's just that empathetic?”

X smiled finally. “They're very good people, Dr. Cain. I hope you'll trust them as I do.”

Dr. Cain took a breath, and then nodded. “Unless I see something more troubling, I'm... on board for now.”

Pyrostrike tipped his head in welcome, and X smiled again.

“I need to go tend to some things before we tackle Repliforce's armada. I'm on comms,” X affirmed before twisting to jog out of the bunker.

* * *

She stumbled, shouting in frustration as her new knees clicked off the ground. Shimmer appeared beside her, offering a hand, but not actually gripping her yet.

“You've made great progress for the same day, please don't forget that.”

The cyborg woman, now looking more human again, simply with clearly prosthetic parts to most of her body, eyed Shimmer sidelong, still frustrated. She calmed as she looked at the oblong-optics of this all-but-stranger who was helping them all so much. She exhaled, glanced back toward the others, and thought for a moment.

Everyone else was still using bars to walk or doing slow lifting exercises with Warp Turtle's assistance. He was a very patient, 'old' caretaker, and kept them calm through their frustrations. She was the first to try walking unaided. Maybe she was pushing it too hard. With a softer exhale, she looked back to Shimmer, and raised a staying hand. “No help this time.”

Shimmer nodded, easing back and standing.

She focused, and started to slowly rise up. First, one leg was crooked up, giving her a base to try to stand from. Her new body parts whirred softly, clicked, and hummed. It was alien, still, but not truly unpleasant. However, just as she started to get to the point where she could lift her other leg to flatten the foot, she lost coordination and balance, pitching at her waist to try to steady. She almost recovered, and then barked as she started to fall toward the still-bent leg.

Shimmer was there, catching her before her head to could slam to the floor. She instinctively grabbed onto whatever caught her, and then slowly looked up to his optics.

“...This must look pretty pathetic to a Reploid,” she rasped softly.

Shimmer shook his head. “I'd probably have a harder time if you put my neural network in an organic body. But, don't worry. We know humans can adapt to this kind of thing. Just takes practice, effort, and time.”

She let him help her upright this time, and then softly pushed on his shoulder. He eased back with her push, just being cautious. She kept her balance.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

She met his optics, now with one of her own. “Why didn't you kill us in that lab?”

Shimmer turned more grave, considering his answer. At last, he said, “I know what it's like to not be in control of your own body. And be used for violence.”

That surprised her, her head straightening a bit. She glanced down for a beat, then back to Shimmer. “...Thank you for getting us out of there, helping us now...”

Shimmer smiled softly. “Nowhere I'd rather be, Victoria.”

“...Call me Vi, I think you've earned it.”

He chuckled softly. “Vi it is, then.”

* * *

“Double! For the love of—Just... stop!” One of the head mechanics was controlling himself from snapping too hard at the inept Reploid.

Double awkwardly chuckled, rubbing the back of his helmet, still holding a crate of parts. “Sorry, sir...”

“J-just go—Go double check the stock room counts, please? We've done a bunch of repair work today, we need to know it's all still good.”

Double saluted... dropping the crate in his arm. The team of mechanics visibly twitched, but when he moved to pick it all up, they shouted to stop him in unison, and just begged him to go back to the stock room.

Double trundled along, and disappeared inside the dimly lit stock room. Most of its resources went into atmosphere control and armored walls to protect the goods from deterioration and combat, respectively, so the lighting was left to Reploids to rely on their on-person flashlights.

Double got to work, scanning and checking counts on the first shelf, bobbing his head to a little ditty he was imagining. Once he was on the second aisle, he turned to reach for another box of basic parts, and jumped with fright as his light cast across X himself, standing just there, smiling calmly.

Moreover, X's helmet was different. It had multiple radials angling back off of it, and seemed to match to the more robust, complex, and yet more streamlined structure of his legs.

“M-my liege! A new crown?”

X chuckled, shaking his head. “Just a recovery from the network hub that we finally secured. I wanted to check in on you, Double. I see your repairs took well?”

Double rubbed at the side of his face where the cut had scorched it previously. “Y-yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

X tipped his head, and then pulled something from his storage unit on his back, offering it to Double.

It resembled a small handle-grip, with an activation switch, and an LED, little else.

“What's that?” Double asked simply, confused by the item.

X kept his calm smile. “It's a direct communication device. Straight to me. After what happened to poor Cadis, we need to make sure you can report whatever odd orders you think you've received quickly and quietly. Keep it on you at all times, Double, that's an order, understood?” X dipped his head to emphasize the order gently.

Double seemed to be treating it as a hallowed object as he slowly took it in both of his hands. “Y-yes, master! I shall keep it next to my core at all times!”

X widened his smile. “That's a huge relief to me, Double, thank you.”

Double nodded rapidly, putting the comm device into his chest compartment that moment. “Is Cadis alright, sir? I checked medbay afterward, but...”

X turned his expression grave. “She's not, no.” He said no more, turning to simply move out the room.

It left Double blinking in confusion.

* * *

X arrived in the command center to several blinking stares at his head. Alia had to softly point toward it, showing her quizzical expression openly. X smiled a bit as he arrived at the holotable with Signas and Zero.

“Found another upgrade,” he mumbled, then cleared his throat. “What's the status of the Repliforce fleet?”

Iris and Dex joined Alia in turning their chairs to face the holotable in the center. Dex offered, “They're moving into escort formation for atmospheric trajectory.”

Iris added, “My brother was sighted leading a large force into the starport below the fleet, and there's no confirmation of him departing on a ship yet. Also, no telefield signatures.”

Alia simply confirmed, “If we want this to stay on-planet, we have to stop that fleet today.”

X nodded seriously, now focusing down onto the holodisplay approximating the fleet locations above a model of the starport. “And where are we with our own fleet?”

Signas spoke up here. “Not ideal. Our fleet had yet to recover from the Doppler conflict, and most of the funding that would've gone to us for it, went into Repliforce instead.”

Zero clarified, “We have six cruisers, and a fleet of lightly armed troop transports.”

X exhaled heavily, “Against carriers, cruisers, and fightercraft.”

A pall fell over the room, but Alia was the first to break it. “Airstrike had some ideas.”

“Patch him through.”

A hologram of Airstrike's sleek head flickered into life a moment later.

“Commander and company, with the formation Storm Owl is leading his forces into, we could devastate it with a pin-point blitz at four locations around his position. Losses would probably be total, regarding our ships, but the Repliforce fleet would be crippled.”

X frowned. “Do we have any information on Storm Owl himself?”

Zero squinted at how X seemed to expect this from Airstrike himself, rather than one of the operators.

Airstrike did respond. “He's a good leader, and the discipline in the flight pathing would confirm he's got a loyal set of captains under him. That can be made into a weakness. If we cut the head off this snake...”

X nodded. “Without his direct leadership, they may scatter too much to mount a proper defense.”

Alia added, “And if we're lucky, he has the codes to bypass the weapon systems of the entire fleet, stall them in the air.”

X leaned onto the holotable. “Alright, here's the agenda.”

Everyone stiffened a bit to attention.

“Airstrike's plan is given the green light, with a caveat. I need priority given to assisting a telefield lock onto Storm Owl's ship. I'll go for the head of the snake, while you cause chaos in their formation. Hopefully, I can neutralize Storm Owl before our own losses grow too vast.”

Iris and Alia both twisted back to their consoles instantly. They then twisted back, and shared an awkward glance before Iris deferred to her commanding operator. Alia chuckled, and gestured back to Iris. She blushed, and then quickly explained, “If we can get one of our own ships within a quarter-mile of Storm Owl's flagship, we can piggy-back a telefield strong enough for Commander X.”

Zero fixed his eyes on X after that, openly challenging, “Alone. Again. Really?”

X gave him a similarly droll stare. “Do you really want to join me on a ship that may start crashing out of the air while we're still on it?”

Alia deadpanned at him, and he tried not to notice.

Zero shook his head, tossing his hands up casually. Apparently he was letting it go for now as he leaned back against a console with folded arms.

Signas chuckled faintly. “And ground side, Commander?”

X looked back down at the hologram. “Ground side? ...Make sure Repliforce never leaves that starport until we have the situation contained.”

Iris looked over with worry. “Never, sir?”

Zero gave X a look with her.

X blinked. “Poor choice of phrase, Iris, I'm sorry. Emphasis on containment. We're not going to start slaughtering anyone.”

Iris eased, but Zero straightened, “I'll lead containment efforts. Make sure nothing gets too out of hand.”

Iris was gently surprised, but then smiled softly at him. X raised an eyebrow, but simply nodded. “Do it.”

Zero gave a little salute, winked at Iris, and dashed off, leaving Iris with a little blush as she quickly hid in her work.

X remained serious, looking down at the holomap intently. He could feel it. Another piece. On one of those ships...

* * *

Airstrike stood on the bridge of one of the Hunter armada ships that was still left after the Doppler war. His crew was diligently keeping the ship at peak efficiency as they waited in formation with their sister ships a safe distance from the Repliforce armada over the starport.

“Congratulations on the promotion, though you seem less than thrilled about it, 'Hunter Admiral.'”

Airstrike glanced over his shoulder to Inferno. The hulking Reploid barely fit in the bridge, but he managed.

“...Bad memories,” Airstrike muttered softly, and then looked ahead. “Mostly, I'm just focused right now. The timing is tighter than I'd like, and the risk is extremely high to all crews. A failure of leadership here would be catastrophic.”

Inferno half-smiled. “They couldn't be in better hands. Which ship is handling the tagging?”

Airstrike lifted his optics a little higher at the distant dots of the Repliforce fleet. “This one. It's the most dangerous task, and I can use the integrated controls if needed.”

One of the crewman Reploids twisted in her seat. “Confirming the control cradle is ready to deploy, sir.”

Airstrike tipped his head. “Well done, stay ready.”

“Sir!”

Comms clicked, and Airstrike touched his audio-receptor. He cycled his respirator, and then looked across his bridge crew. “Operation start! All ships, advance to starting points, and utilize planned vectors as soon as possible! Sound off on obstructions immediately!”

At Hunter Admiral Airstrike's word, all six cruisers blasted to full thrust, and rushed across the sky toward the Repliforce fleet. In didn't take more than a few seconds for the fleet to start to respond. Several fighter flights fanned out and started to close on the Hunter flotilla, able to close the gap much faster than any of the larger ships involved.

“ _Onslaught_ being intercepted in 10!”

“ _Light's Sprocket_ being intercepted in 7!”

Airstrike tilted his head down. “Maintain...” he trailed off deliberately.

All six ships charged ahead, unwavering. It seemed almost as though they were going to let the fights overtake and swarm them. Their defense cannons weren't even aimed ahead.

Airstrike suddenly barked, “FIRE ALL CANNONS!”

The Repliforce fighters, little more than drones, started to scatter to overtake the Hunter ships, but just as they started to commit to their new courses, the Hunter vessels' cannons unleashed a full volley in dozens of strange directions.

The strangeness was explained in the following three seconds, as every single drone plowed into condensed plasma charges already air-borne.

Only three fighters survived the one-shot-per-cannon obliteration, careening past the Hunter ships in desperate correction paths.

“All ships, full ahead! Rear gunners, track and destroy remaining drones!” Airstrike ordered instantly.

Inferno just smiled a bit to himself as he listened to the distant thumps of the rear guns destroying the drones. “...Told you.”

Airstrike grumbled a bit. “We're only just getting started. And that was mostly Iris and Dex's work.”

Inferno just rolled his optics mildly.

* * *

Storm Owl frowned at the holodisplay on his bridge of what the Hunter ships did to the drone fighters. “They know our drone response algorithms. Technicians, I want modulation on every third parameter for the next wave of drones. Get them in the air as fast as possible.”

“Sir!”

The somewhat stocky, crimson Reploid focused his large green optics on the overall holomap of the soon-to-be-battle. “They're not fools, that formation is dangerous, and they just proved they have the coordination for it. Even so...” He squinted, thinking.

The Hunter flotilla couldn't win the fight, but they could seriously cripple his fleet. That didn't mesh with the previous MO the Hunters had demonstrated with Slash Beast, Stingray, and the others.

“...I feel like I've seen that flight pattern before, too.”

He twisted, and moved to a more secluded console, pulling up some data files. A document showing information about Storm Eagle displayed prominently. “One of your students, old friend? Well... let's see if he's worthy of it.”

Looking back to the rest of the bridge, he shouted, “They'll go for our flanking positions, split the drones to defend!”

“Sir!”

* * *

It was almost like watching two trains chug toward collision. Airstrike watched gravely as Storm Owl's fleet started to adjust at full speed for such tight quarters. His optics then tracked the small speckles of drones... not attacking.

“ _Rush, Skyhammer_ you're going to be dealing with fighters, and I doubt our trick with the guns will work twice against Storm Owl's own fleet. Have your cannons aimed _aft_ and charge hard as planned. It should buy you time.”

“Copy, Hunter Admiral!”

“Copy!”

Airstrike looked down to his bridge crew, “Crew, this is going to be the choppiest ride of your lives. Stay focused. We WILL take damage, it's a question of managing it.”

“Yes, sir!” chorused back.

Inferno turned calmly, “I'll get to the engine room. Might need my... expertise, when it gets messy.”

Airstrike glanced back with a chuckle. “Appreciated.” Looking forward again, he muttered, “And I have to deal with one of my best rivals from the old days...”

* * *

The lopsided battle rushed to confrontation, the Repliforce ships starting to spread out like a flying net, with the Hunter ships lancing out to clearly very specific points, like some kind of scatter shot. Just as Repliforce cannons started to fire, however, the Hunter ships abruptly veered into something entirely different.

The far ships on either side veered hard and low to the left, high to the right, all but barrel-rolling as they shifted to flank from above and below while taking glancing shots from the cannons. The center four abruptly accelerated to maximum speed, normally suicidal in such close quarters between craft.

Three of them all but threw themselves between gaps in the Repliforce formation. Surrounding themselves seemed foolish, but their speed only dipped long enough for them to use the momentum of their swerves to push into the heart of three points of the core flee formation... at which points their own cannons started to fire in myriad directions before they even started to slow down.

The flankers were almost immediately swarmed by drones, but from Airstrike's orders, they just tore ahead at full speed, and just as the drones started to rush past, loop, and chase, their cannons unleashed volleys into their own wakes. A good third of the fighter presence was obliterated instantly.

The flankers then faced the brunt of the counter fire, losing chunks of hull and engines as they tried to keep pressure on those edges of the Repliforce formation.

And the last ship seemed to be veering to disrupt the top center of the fleet... but it abruptly dove sharply down, and then fired its rear facing cannons in a wave from stem to stern. It created a small additional burst of speed, and brought Airstrike's vessel right into the broad-side of Storm Owl's own capital ship.

Both ships opened fire on each other.

Airstrike, now in the command-cradle locked around his arms, shoulders, and linked into the floor around him, barked a quick order. “Teleport X in now!”

* * *

It could easily have been confused for a cannon blast between the ships. X's telefield slipped, warped, and dashed through the air, all the way to Storm Owl's flagship. There, it promptly dove, slamming down onto the launch platform for some of its own drones.

X came dashing out of the field, both busters out. Humanoid mechaniloids with plasma blasters started to charge out toward him, and a pair of Repliforce snipers were further back, tracking him immediately.

“ _Enter this capsule, Megaman X. It will improve your weapon systems in a unique way.”_

X remembered from acquiring his helmet, his colors starting to shift rapidly between weapon systems.

“ _The effeciency of any weapon system you've learned from other machines will be raised exponentially. I pray you use it well.”_

X spun around as he sailed forward, his busters unleashing storms of weaponry. Spin-blades, ray blasts, plasma-cutters, and even two hardlight soul-bodies surged out. They tore through the ranks of mechaniloids, like they were water crashing on a break.

The snipers fired. They were precise, focused shots to X's core in his chest. Three different layers of shielding snapped to life around X, from rolling shield, his armor upgrade from the Doppler war, and even bubble-splash from Bubble Crab. Both shots were eaten up, though the last warmed his chest-plate despite it.

X snapped off twin, empowered grapple-chains. The massive appendages flew forward, crashed through the mechaniloids remaining, and then he whipped them to the sides, sending the bots crashing into the walls just inside the launch hangar he finally reached.

As the two snipers re-tracked, X's colors shifted to ground-hunter weapons from Jet Stingray. His helmet gem began to glow faintly, and just as the snipers fired, he swirled, unleashing a volley of ground hunter drones... that then swirled around him like a tornado, several flawlessly directing themselves into the paths of the two powerful blasts. It took three drones each, but the shots dispersed before harming him.

One of the snipers eased back in growing dread. “...Not even Commander Stingray could do that with his weapons...”

X flickered forward, and appeared between the two snipers, one buster trained on each.

“Weapons on the floor, go into repair mode.”

Both Reploids stared hard, but then eased down, their weapons laying flat, and then they slumped to inactivity.

X relaxed his busters, and charged ahead.

* * *

The engine room of Airstrike's ship was a hellscape only a few minutes into the battle. Coolant systems were rupturing, power conductors overloaded, with engineers scrambling to manage make-shift repairs and re-routes on the fly.

A pair of engineers shouted as a coolant line burst near them. The reason for the burst was immediately clear as parts of the metal housing started to melt rather than freeze. The engineer Reploids were not combat-rated bodies, and had shell damage immediately themselves.

Before they could announce the problem, Inferno overshadowed them, and just reached through, clamping his large hand over the rupture, greatly reducing the blast of heated particles in an instant. “I've got this, re-route the coolant line if you can!”

The engineers, each cradling one arm, quickly got back to their feet, and issues controls. They had to dance around the other dozen or so re-routes already in place, and then sounded off their confirmations. Inferno only then released his hand, which was lightly melted on the inside grips.

“Guess those combat upgrades are no joke?” one engineer asked, looking at Inferno's hand.

Inferno half-smiled. “I'm built for this kind of work, don't worry about it.”

* * *

The battle itself wasn't going much better than the engine room. The flanking Hunter ships were belching smoke from several holes in their hull, an engine or two burnt out, and several cannons damaged. The pin-point ships were worse off, barely managing to fire back with a few guns as they tried desperately to maintain their planned course through Storm Owl's fleet.

Various distress and mayday messages were shouted to Airstrike as he tried to guide his own ship close to Storm Owl's, the vessel quaking regularly with impacts or rakes of fighter blasts.

“We're being torn apart, sir! We have to retreat soon, or we're all going down!”

“ _Rush_ is near critical, sir! _Onslaught_ and _Light's Sprocket_ aren't far behind!”

Airstrike focused his comms to one place. “Is X on board!?”

“...Just now, yes!” Alia's voice returned at last.

Airstrike suddenly wrenched his controls, whipping his ship away from Storm Owl's own. “All ships, change vectors and push through to the outside of the enemy formation! Then alter vectors to a tangent arc! Coordinate to ensure no collisions amongst ourselves!”

“Yes, sir!” chorused across the crew and comms.

Abruptly, the Hunter ships burst outward like a firework, barrel-rolling or side-drifting at high speed between Repliforce ships. This already seemed to have confused their targeting methods. Just as they were re-training their shots, the Hunter ships breaking into sharp turns and starting to circumnavigate the entire fleet in different directions, while still so tightly close, ruined their targeting all together. Just as one Repliforce ship could take aim, the Hunter vessel in each case would start to cross over another Repliforce ship.

For a few precious seconds, the Hunter ships could take the offensive with near impunity, their damaged or limited cannons opening fire, and finally managing to cripple several Repliforce ships at the engines and weapon systems.

One of Airstrike's crew members looked up to him in confusion. “How did you know that would work?”

Airstrike kept steering hard around the edges of the fleet as he answered. “Storm Owl keeps his ships close to support each other. There's only one way to turn that against him.”

“What's next?”

“We hope X can get them to surrender before they scatter their formation.”

* * *

X's legs bashed out a vent plate, and he flipped tightly to land on his feet in the darkened cargo space of the capital ship. Illuminating the space was one of Dr. Light's capsules, waiting at the far side for him.

X straightened, and snapped both arms into busters. “I see the bait, where's the trap?”

“Not very subtle, I agree.”

Storm Owl's voice came from everywhere, clearly through an intercom system.

“Wasn't to my tastes, but we were assured it would get your attention. That seems verified... though you were well aware of the situation.”

X shrugged calmly. “I'm pretty sure I know where you got that tip. He doesn't give anyone good information.”

“...I've no reason to disagree, however...”

The roof suddenly snapped, split, and started to open amid roaring wind and distant explosions of the sky-battle all around the ship.

Storm Owl dropped in to a neat crouch, and then snapped up rigidly, one arm configured into a turbine-buster. “Your flotilla is impressive, Commander X. I've seen techniques like that only once before.”

X flicked a faint smile. “I can't take credit for his talents. ...I need you to stand down and tell your ships to do the same, Storm Owl. Neither of us want loss of life, but I can't let this fleet reach orbit.”

Storm Owl snapped his wings open, calm and focused. “To do so would be a betrayal of the trust my men put in me, Commander X. There's only one way to stop this fleet.”

Frowning, grim, X started to build energy over his frame. “I was hoping you wouldn't say that.”

“Then you're not a soldier.”

“No. I'm not.”

X dashed forward, Storm Owl ripped skyward. Two mid-charged plasma blasts flew for Storm Owl's wings, but he twisted between them and sent an accelerated orb of shearing wind down at X from his turbine-buster.

Barely flickering out of its path, X watched the wind currents slice into the deck in his wake. _The concentrated force and speed in those air currents is insane for how quickly he can fire that. Fair enough..._

Storm Owl bolted from point to point, which was more impressive in his case than it would normally appear. He wasn't just flying around, he was compensating for the ship's maneuvers around them with his wings, keeping himself on a reliable path despite the entire 'arena' dancing around him.

It was that maneuverability that X was being surprised by. As he sent bolts after Storm Owl, the Repliforce admiral danced with the ship, evading or only being grazed across armored plating. Meanwhile, he was firing off double-cyclone orbs regularly.

Storm Owl made this even worse for X by snapping his wings taut, reversing thrust to let two more bolts fly past him, and then aimed one hand down at X with the fingers spread vertically. The next instant, plasma bolts, smaller and more rapidly fired, streamed out of his hand, spraying across that half of the room.

X had to flicker, grind up walls, leap, twist, and dive to avoid being peppered apart by the volley. It was more predictable than Ray Splasher, but significantly faster. By the time X had finished avoiding the near-hundreds of shots, he had completely lost track of Storm Owl himself, and had to dive aside harshly when he felt the double-cyclone rushing down at his back.

Storm Owl, however, did not look pleased. _I'm keeping him on the defensive, but with this onslaught, he should be dead. And he's adapting already, I can see it. So this is the power that saved the humans from themselves thrice over already? I have to end this_ now _!_

X backflipped as the ship twisted, causing him to slam flat with redoubled force. It saved him from twin double-cyclone orbs, but he groaned from basically being slammed by a wall at high speed. _This worked a lot better in cyberspace_ , X whined to himself, then his optics widened with realization.

With a thruster-blast sliding him along the floor to avoid the next blasts of razor-sharp wind, X's colors cycled rapidly, and he flipped over his head, both busters reconfiguring as his eyes locked up on Storm Owl himself.

Storm Owl watched in that timeless instant, realizing something had just shifted drastically for his enemy. He started to blast himself backwards to buy time to think, but he watched X's optics glow with his skullgem, snap-flashing onto Storm Owl himself. It was some kind of lock-on system!

Storm Owl dove hard, but X's arms aimed forward to meet him, and twin beams of condensed plasma ripped out, spreading slightly outward as they reached, and continuing to shift sharply through the air to follow Storm Owl live.

With intensified speed, Storm Owl was forced into defense, ripping from one wall to the next, coiling, and back-blasting himself to change his directions, trying to break the lock-on. Yet, X's eyes and arms tracked him flawlessly, blasting through wind and plasma alike with the focused beams.

At last, Storm Owl barked in pain as one of his wings was scorched off. He tumbled through the air, and slammed to the deck. He assumed his death was coming for him, and desperately tried to roll aside... only to look up and see X standing over him, aimed, but not firing.

“Order your people to stand down. Weapons first. No more need to suffer.”

Storm Owl grimaced, glancing back to his sundered wing. His optics returned to X. “And what do I say to the Reploids that already died under my command, who didn't have a chance to surrender?”

X didn't twitch. “That you were wrong, and you corrected it by stopping the threat to the REST of your Reploids.”

“...So simple for you, is it?”

X's buster hummed with charge. “There's nothing simple about saving lives in a war.”

Storm Owl bowed his head, then touched his audio receptor. “...All units, this is Storm Owl. I've been compromised. Stand down.”

X narrowed his optics at Storm Owl's addition, but waited even so. It took several seconds, but the sounds of cannon fire slowed, then stopped.

Airstrike's voice sounded over X's comms next. “Commander, all Repliforce ships have ceased combat operations. Status?”

X touched his ear calmly, only then lowering his buster. “Storm Owl's surrender is confirmed. Take Repliforce fleet personnel and ships into Hunter custody.”

“Copy!”

Only then did X sag slightly, appearing exhausted. Storm Owl eased back into a sitting position, appraising his adversary anew.

“You fight like a killer, but don't want to take lives?”

X's face contorted, and his eyes slid up to Storm Owl again. “...I try to save lives, yes.”

Telefields blopped into form near Storm Owl, and several Hunters appeared to take Storm Owl into custody. They checked with X, who just nodded, and once they had teleported out, he finally turned back to the capsule.

It activated as he approached it this time, likely detecting the battle and his energy signature for some time now.

The hologram of Dr. Light appeared once again, looking grave, and more aged now. Perhaps this had been close to his own death.

“X... I'd hoped you'd never need these capsules. I'd hoped you never need any of them. Did I condemn you to this fate by making these preparations? Or are they the only reason his evil won't prevail? I can't be sure, and if I've been wrong, I can only apologize to you...”

X seemed harrowed, his optics starting to water, but all he could do was listen.

“This capsule will upgrade your X-buster system substantially. The containment mechanisms will be reconfigured to allow you to hold a full charge in your system almost indefinitely, as well as dramatically increase the efficiency of your power charging functions. ...I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you, X. The more of these I make, the more keenly I feel that. I hope you are loved...”

And the hologram faded away.

X closed his eyes, weighed down by everything especially in that moment. “...I am... whether I deserve it or not.”

He turned, and stepped into the capsule.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!


	11. Tipping Point

Maverick Hunter HQ's dock went from being under-filled, to overflowing with ships and Reploids in a matter of minutes. Restraints weren't used, but several units of Hunters were present to escort the surrendered Repliforce airmen to the newly fabricated stockades. It was tense, awkward, but peaceful. X got a few glances, especially for his arms that were clearly upgraded, but it was such a busy rush, no one really wasted the time to question or cheer the victory.

Airstrike himself, however, got a few quick cheers from crews, and he smiled, but tried to get them to quiet down. He verified if any crews needed an extra hand, but they unilaterally told him to take his rest after what he'd done for the fleet.

This allowed him to do what he really wanted to do.

Storm Owl had only been in his new holding cell for minutes when Airstrike appeared in front of him. The crimson Repliforce admiral squinted a bit at the new face, but appraised Airstrike carefully rather than dismissively. “...The leader of the Hunter ships?”

Airstrike tipped his head. “Honored by the guess. I'm Airstrike. You lead your people well.”

Storm Owl noted the use of present tense to himself. He eyed the inhibitor plant on his turbine buster for a moment, then looked back to Airstrike. “...You lead like Storm Eagle.”

Airstrike shrugged faintly. “I've been told that.”

“You didn't learn from him, though.”

Airstrike raised an eyebrow.

“The way you moved your capital ship during the telefield breach. You used a double-twist barrell roll. Normally suicidal... unless done exactly in proper timing with the enemy cannons. Storm Eagle refused to teach it to students, and never met anyone else he considered experienced enough to hand it down to before his... demise.”

Airstrike bowed his head, but had to smile faintly. He'd taught it to ONE person.

“Other than me, that is.”

Airstrike looked back up. “Most training and combat is public record, of course.”

“No one learns like that. Not that level of detail. Who are you, Airstrike?”

Airstrike chuckled faintly. “...I can only give you one answer to that question, Owl... but I'll say that you're no fool. I just wanted to make sure that my... _rival_ was being treated with proper respect despite the situation.”

Storm Owl showed confused shock, though he controlled it. “...Well enough, I suppose,” was all he muttered.

Airstrike nodded once more, and started to step away. “See you soon, old friend.”

It left Storm Owl pensive. The situation was far more complex on the Hunter side than he'd thought...

* * *

X wasted no time returning to the command center. Even Signas was somewhat surprised, Zero, Alia, Dex, and Iris all focusing on him as he marched to the holo-table, seemingly still ready for battle.

“What's the status at the starport itself?”

Alia jerked faintly, switching gears in her mind. “U-uh, quiet for the moment, sir. Perimeter teams confirm no movement in or out since their fleet engaged ours.”

“Do we have confirmation of Colonel or General's location?” X persisted.

Iris spoke up quickly. “My brother would be the rear-guard for them. If they intend to fully leave Earth, he'll be the last one off the ground.”

Zero glanced to her more sympathetically, X simply focused on her with the same gravity as before.

“Would you bet lives on that certainty, Iris?”

Iris stiffened a bit, and Zero eyed X darkly, but then Iris straightened, strengthening herself. “I know my brother, sir. The General I can't speak to.”

X simply nodded, and looked back to the others. “We have to stop this as soon as possible. Do we have any data confirming General's whereabouts?”

Dex raised a hand, and everyone focused on him.

“Sorry, but I have an educated guess that he's already on the Final Weapon station.”

X pinched the bridge of his nose. “Humans aren't subtle about their naming conventions, are they?”

It caused an awkward pause as no one could really disagree.

“Go on?” X prompted after that brief pause.

“There was one troop transport that went up with fighter escort. No others received that protection. Even if it was a dummy to distract enemies, it implies that they were moving a VIP up around that time. If it wasn't Colonel, I'm not sure who else it could be other than the General.”

Zero folded his arms. “Still just a guess, though I get your point.”

Dex only nodded.

X rubbed fingers along his forehead, his eyes closed, clearly thinking through his frustration with the situation. “...I did play too defensively. We should have more intel, and that's on me.”

Signas raised an eyebrow, Alia showing concern at X's self-deprecation.

“Considering how few casualties there have been, and the extent to which we've dismantled Repliforce's territory, I think you're being overly harsh, sir,” Signas stated openly.

X cycled his respirator softly. “I appreciate the sentiment, but now our people will be going into unacceptably severe risks without solid intel.” He glanced to Zero. “Any advice?”

The entire command center went quiet at that. Zero blinked, openly shocked, and finally spoke, “You're asking me how I'd approach this situation?”

“Yes. Being more aggressive here may be the right call, I'd like to hear how you'd handle it specifically.”

Zero smirked. “So it's just because I'm the 'slash first, ask questions later' Hunter, hm?”

X just gave him a dismal stare. Alia and Signas rolled their eyes subtly, while Dex and Iris just watched in open confusion.

“Fine, fine,” Zero started afresh. “I'd send whatever ships we can out over the starport first, let them know they can't flee up without risk. Then have the perimeter teams start pressuring the edges. That should expose what kind of firepower they have still on the ground. With that exposed, a strike team could get to their command center, if we can identify it, and neutralize them here, just like the other Repliforce bases. I'd assume that means dealing with Colonel?” Zero asked Iris with a softer look.

Iris was stressed by the context, but nodded. “Most likely, yes, sir.”

X glanced between them, faintly smiling at last. He liked the effect Iris had on Zero. The smile faded to seriousness as everyone focused back on him.

“Zero's plan is sound to me. Airstrike has earned his rest, so reach out to Blast Squirrel. I think we have three ships that can still fly properly. Once they're in position above the port, the perimeter units can engage to draw out their defenses. With that started, we need to analyze their comms and dispersal to try to identify a target for the strike team.”

Everyone started to move to comms or turn back to their stations with a clear plan of action, but Alia jerked as an alert went across her screen. She checked it, then her optics widened. “X! The geothermal plant just spiked into critical power surge!”

Everyone quickly focused on her, Dex and Iris switching their datafeeds to check the plant as well.

“Holy slag, she's not joking!” Dex blurted out. “If it keeps that up, the whole thing will meltdown. It makes no sense!”

Iris checked larger map areas instantly. “No civilian facilities in the danger zone if it goes off, but if it blows, it will destroy several hundred acres of forest around that volcano!”

X growled, bowing his head. “An environmental disaster... this is a distraction.” He straightened. “Move forward with the starport operation. I'll handle the geothermal plant myself.”

Zero actually gripped his shoulder. “Would you quit running off without backup!?”

X met his eyes firmly. “I can handle a plant meltdown easily enough. We can't let the starport go uncontested any longer. There's no excuse to delay.”

Iris clenched her hands together, and then twisted. “Sir, you promised you'd bring my brother in alive!” she blurted it out, and then cringed, afraid she'd just doomed her ability to help.

Instead, everyone was just looking between her and X, Zero stepping back, startled, but very curious how this would play out.

X clenched his jaw. “I have standing orders not to harm Repliforce--!?”

“Only if they surrender!” Iris retorted desperately. “My brother won't! You're the only one who can force him to!”

Zero had to add, “Iris, I wouldn't kill your brother.”

“Even if you thought you had to?” Iris challenged him, clearly afraid, but using it for strengthening her resolve.

Zero was silenced, clearly upset by her retort, but not sure how to respond to it.

X was caught, frustration at his own confliction making his fists clench. “...Iris, I can't ignore the geothermal plant, but the starport is vital. I trust my teams to take Colonel alive.”

“But I don't!” Iris had to shout back, snapping up to her feet. “I don't care if this means I get put in the stockade. You promised me! It's the only hope I have that my brother won't die because of his pride!” Tears welled up in her eyes.

Zero normally would have been angry at such an outburst, from anyone else... but Iris' was so obviously sincere, he just couldn't find anger in himself. He wasn't even sure what to tell her.

Signas was grim, but also silent, not reprimanding her. X had put this moment in motion, he saw that much.

Alia eased to her feet, but hesitated to speak, anxious. Dex just watched in growing concern.

X cycled his respirator slowly, holding Iris' gaze. “...Iris, are you demanding I face your brother alone?”

Iris winced. “I... wouldn't... phrase it that way.”

“But is the meaning any different?”

“I'm _begging_ you to!”

Alia closed her eyes. She knew there was functionally no difference for X. A beg from someone like Iris... would be stronger than an order from Dr. Light himself.

X lowered his head, and wiped a hand down his face slowly, almost grinding down his facial features. “...Alia, best estimate for intel on a command center at the star port?”

Alia sat back down, turned, and ran a few simulations at high speed. “...Thirty-to-forty minutes from start of operation for best results.”

X nodded, and started for the door. “Be back in thirty minutes, start the operation.”

Zero twisted, everyone looking after X.

“What are you doing?” Zero demanded in controlled alarm.

X paused at the doorway as it opened. “Dealing with the geothermal plant, then Colonel. If I'm not responsive on comms in thirty minutes, Zero, I want you to handle the strike team.”

Iris was caught, both relieved, and deeply guilty for causing this situation. Zero started to march after X.

“You can't just run off alone! You're the commander now, X! This solo-flying nonsense has to stop!”

“When you're the commander, you can put me in the stocks for disobeying that order,” X retorted simply, and then flickered out of view with a flash of thruster light.

Zero growled, grabbing his head. “He's such a naive brat! I'm following him!” he stated sharply, dashing for the doorway himself.

“But you're the leader if he goes down, Zero,” Signas pointed out quickly, before Zero could vanish, too.

Zero glanced over his shoulder. “If he goes down, Repliforce is gonna have me to worry about. ...I'll keep your brother safe,” he added softly, glancing to Iris, and then dashed out of view himself.

Signas groaned, facepalming openly. “The pair of them...”

Alia had to smile a little, despite her shared worry. “Hopefully it doesn't get them killed this time, either. Orders, sir?”

Signas blinked at her request, and then chuckled. If both Zero and X went silent on comms, he was the logical fallback. “We have our orders. Time to apply the pressure.” He specifically looked to Iris, “Ready?”

Iris blinked, startled and blushing that she wasn't being sent to the stocks. “Y-yes, sir!” she chimed, twisting back to her station, and setting up data feeds.

* * *

X poured out of a telefield on rocky ground that was already trembling with the pressures and heat of the over-charged facility. His helmet-gem pulsed, and he narrowed his optics. He'd known there was an armor capsule here, but hadn't intended to prioritize it. Now, it was practically on the way to his objective. Regardless of Dragoon, he had to get to the command center of the facility and stop the overload.

He snapped both arms into busters, energy starting to pour into his frame as he burst forward at full speed. Parts of the ceiling and floor were breaking apart already, burning boulders crashing down from above, and gouts of metal-melting flame exploded out from the ground. If he was human, the sulfur likely would've killed him already. As it was, the heat of the ambient air was forcing his body immediately into emergency cooling processes, his respirator not able to cool anything with cycling normally.

X blitzed between exploding rocks and fiery jets, letting the flows of power into his body trail off, yet he never fired yet. He just never stopped.

Doing a full-body flip over a chunk of ground collapsing down into a lava river, his legs rammed down with full-power thrusters, letting him practically leap off empty air to finish the distance. He continued dancing around burning rocks, especially snaking between down-hill tumbling ones that shook the entire space around him as they thundered past.

As he leaped clear of a ledge that was about to collapse, his optics snapped to the massive mechaniloid already taking aim at him.

It was a heavy-siege bot, rigged with missile launchers, grenade launchers, and heavy forward armor plating. It started to pump out rockets and grenades in rapid stoccato. X didn't waste his charge on the ammo. He flickered forward, gliding between explosive warheads mid-air, and boost-flipped over the mechaniloid. Just as he was angled behind it, head toward the ground, he snapped both arms down, firing once each.

With the stored power in his frame, both shots were larger than his own body, and merged together before crashing down on the mechaniloid like a raging purple-blue comet.

Even as heavily armored at the bot was, the sheer power X could unleash at will now flash melted between the heavier plates, and finally caused the thing to collapse and explode simultaneously.

X landed running between more exploding terrain.

* * *

Zero appeared out of his own telefield just a moment after X, in truth, but X had simply taken off so fast they were out of sight of each other. Seeing the hellscape X had flown into, Zero frowned, and then drew his saber. He burst forward, and cut a straight path across the wrecked terrain. Each boulder that started to crash down on him was sliced apart before it could actually hit.

Only slightly slower than X after all of his upgrades, Zero flickered, slashed, burst, and flipped along, starting to make out the signs of X's path more clearly despite how chaotic the environment was.

It was when he sailed past the wreckage-crater of the mechaniloid that his optics widened slightly.

_The intensity of the blast needed to do that to a siege-bot... He really couldn't be stopped if he went rogue..._

The affirmation of his older fears was unsettling, but he had too much to get done now. He raced after X.

* * *

X spiraled through a mass of flames and wreckage from another siege mechaniloid. The thrusters under his feet cut smoothly, and he landed on a rock ledge, his optics tracking around rapidly. The capsule was nearby, within twenty or so meters of him.

Several flaming rocks crashed down toward him the next moment, so he dove forward, realized he was feeling the capsule above, and thruster-blasted himself skyward. He barely cleared a blast of flame from the collapsing wall to one side, and fired off a chain-claw to get himself up over the higher ledge.

Once there, he was confronted with a just-crumbled wall. With how unstable everything was, he wasn't sure about his digging tools. With his sensors maximized, he realized the capsule was in a fairly large chamber, the crumbled wall just blocking it off.

“...Blasting it all out at once will tell me how stable the roof is...”

His colors flipped to blue-yellow hues, and energy poured through his frame once again. His busters rearranged into slitted emitters. Slash Beast's cutting waves, the same he'd used to handle Web Spider, were now further enhanced far beyond their normal functions.

X leapt skyward again, and aimed both busters before he fired. A shock-wave like blast of plasma ripped outward, far wider than it was long. It slammed into the loose rubble, blowing it apart explosively.

X landed, and looked around sharply. He had as much time as anywhere in this quaking volcano releasing the last pretense of being a power plant.

The capsule activated at his approach, Dr. Light's hologram appearing once again.

“X, this capsule is registering a dangerous change its environment. I won't waste time. This upgrade will allow you to focus the G-Crusher emergency discharge. Instead of a singular explosion last resort, it will allow you to guide your body with tremendous force and energy. I called it the Giga attack mechanism. ...And I pray you never truly have to use it.”

X frowned, bowing his head, but then he took a breath, and leapt into the capsule.

* * *

A Repliforce soldier braced awkwardly in his ride-armor as the facility trembled again. “...What were our exact orders again?”

His partner had to spread his ride armor's legs as another quake pulsed. “Help guard Dragoon against Maverick Hunter assassins.”

The first soldier looked around again, parts of the ceiling crumbling. “I don't see this needing protection from Maverick Hunters.”

The silence from his partner made him assume the response was lost in the rumbles around them, so he turned, only to jerk in shock as someone materialized out of thin-air, holding his comrade's head back, with an arm-buster pressed to the temple.

X looked unusually dark, despite his glistening armor making him look even more like a knight than usual, with broad shoulder guards, and bladed fins running off various parts of his body.

“Why are Repliforce soldiers here?” X demanded flatly.

“Shoot him!” the held soldier barked abruptly.

The first soldier jerked his ride armor, the plasma blade charging to unleash a blast, but he froze there, watching X stare him down, completely unfazed by the threat of being shot.

“If I wanted you both dead, you'd already be melting into the lava that's about to burst through the floor here. Why are Repliforce soldiers guarding an AWOL Hunter?”

The one he was restraining managed, “Orders,” despite the awkward angle of his head.

“Whose!?” X sharpened his tone.

“The General!” The first soldier finally shouted. “A special escort and guard task. That's all we were told!”

X nodded, easing his buster.

“This volcano is about to completely explode, and Magma Dragoon is much more resilient to lava than either of you. Run, right now, or I can't keep you alive.”

“...You're letting us go?”

X flipped back to a crouch, his hand reverting. “We were never enemies, and I can't arrest you safely in this nightmare. Run!”

The two shared a glance, and then bolted, using their armor to carry them more safely through the morass of fire and rock.

X twisted, and quickly dash-leapt from point to point up a cliff above the guards' watch position. He found the remains of an access path that had partially collapsed from all the chaos. It led to the command center of the plant, and it was his best guess as to Dragoon's location.

* * *

Zero snapped his saber into firmer grip as he saw the two ride armors charging toward him, but his optics tightened at the panicked expressions on the two Repliforce soldiers.

“The place is coming down, just run!” one of them shouted at Zero himself.

Zero eased his sword down, but kept dashing forward, flitting between the two. He glanced after them. They never looked back, running for their lives. Mildly confused, but suspecting X's involvement in the odd event, Zero boosted back to full speed, rushing ahead through the exploding terrain.

* * *

X discovered the command center already partially in ruins. He leapt down from the opening that no longer had a catwalk attached. Landing harshly on open rock, he was on a platform of it amidst flowing lava that was churning out of the far wall already. The main consoles were off to his left. Several had already melted from proximity to the lava.

Scanning with his full sensors, he confirmed that the primary control systems still functioned. With obvious need to hurry, he started to run that way.

“Leaving so soon?”

X stopped, locking his eyes on Magma Dragoon, near the cracking, leaking wall.

“Why haven't you shut this down yet?” he demanded directly.

Dragoon leaned back with uproarious laughter. “Why would I? It did exactly what I needed it to do. It brought you to me, X.”

X frowned, and slowly faced Dragoon fully, his fists clenching. “...What are you doing, Dragoon?”

“Challenging you to battle, Megaman X. I've craved this since I first heard of you with Sigma's uprising. Of course, you're as well known for how good you are defeating Mavericks as you are for being a pascifist otherwise. You don't spar in the HQ, nothing. Not that a spar would be enough for me. So I had to get you moving.”

X bowed his head slowly, his eyes closing. “...The fail safes...”

Magma Dragoon sneered. “That's right. I let the Sky Lagoon fall! Everything happened just as he promised! And now, here you are before me.”

X remained quiet and still for a moment.

“You're not infected,” X finally stated. “You chose this. ...Repliforce never attacked the Sky Lagoon.”

“Not even remotely. But the idiot humans fell for it perfectly.”

X shivered. “...Thousands of people died, Dragoon.”

Dragoon shrugged. “A bunch of sheep. Most of them would never amount to anything. Not like us, X.”

His fists, his body, they were quaking with pain... and rage. His bowed head overshadowed his face from the light of the burning lava all around them.

A human woman bleeding out in his arms.

Zero's blowing himself apart.

Erasing Vile's head against a wall.

Alia's scream when her arm was torn off.

And his own body giving out, his mind flooding with the certainty that so many people would die.

“...You murdered...” X's voice bled out, deathly quiet, “all those people... for a fight with me...?”

Dragoon lifted his arms up. “There it is! Feel the rage, X! Show me how you can really fight!”

X's head just lifted enough for his eyes to snap open, only one visible from the odd shadow and light. It was dilated to a point, glaring with murderous fury of its own.

Dragoon saw it, and grinned fiendishly, snapping into a combat stance.

The next instant, he was reeling back, his optics panning up in that timeless moment. His jaw was already dented from the hammer-impact of X's knee under his chin, and his optics could focus up into X's optics... burning with a so-rarely unleashed, unrestrained fury.

Both carried up by the rocket-powered knee-strike, X wrenched his arms out, over, and down. It slammed Dragoon's head straight down into the rocks beneath them, cracking a small crater.

Most Reploids would've been out at that point, but Dragoon wasn't all bluster. He snapped his optics into focus, and rolled to one side. X dropped to his feet, tracking Dragoon with his gaze. The crimson traitor rammed his arms forward, flames bleeding out through armor plating and between the joints of the digits, before a gout of flame exploded out, racing toward X.

X flickered to one side, then the other for the next fireball, then the other for the third, each time closing on Dragoon once again.

Dragoon dropped low, fire erupted over his right arm, and he leapt skyward with an uppercut just as X flickered into place near him. X flowed back, tongues of fire flowing out toward his chest, shoulders, and face in the wake of Dragoon's passing fist.

Knowing he'd missed, Dragoon coiled, swinging one foot around into a back-kick, flame engulfing the limb just like his arm had been.

This, X blocked, ramming one leg back, his left arm curled up, creating a wall for Dragoon's leg to slam into. Fire spilled forward around X's limb, but appeared to do little harm to his upgraded body.

Dragoon used the impulse of his failed strike to leap back to his haunches, meeting X's hard gaze around the still-raised arm. His surprise melted into a satisfied grin.

“This is exactly what I hoped it would be!”

Abruptly armor fins on Dragoon's back snapped up in his wake like air-foils. He hunched forward, arms dropped, and his jaw expanded open unnaturally.

X braced, his sensors giving him strange results for the heat-flows within the room. It was all swirling and rushing down... into Dragoon's back. X realized he'd wasted too much time, and jerked back, his boots thrusting him away sharply.

Dragoon roared, and the heat from the lava and air was condensed through his weaponry, then exploded forward in a massive stream of pure fire. It was so intense it was heavy, pouring through the air like it had weight and substance.

X couldn't move his body fast enough, though his perception knew exactly what was happening in fine detail. He leapt up, braced all his limbs forward, curled, and his personal shield pulsed up around his body as the first lashes of flame reached him.

Dragoon drove the stream forward, blasting into the far wall with thunderous force. Rocks and debris rained down all around the 'arena.'

//X, are you alright!?//

It was Zero.

//Fine. Leave this to me. Can you kill the overload?//

//X... Yeah, I'll focus on that.//

Zero was hidden just behind a ledge that only recently exposed itself. He eased closer to the edge, his saber sheathed for the moment. He was intending to check Dragoon's focus, so he could drop to the command consoles swiftly, but he was distracted quickly.

Dragoon's stream-blast of flame finally died down, and Dragoon stared in wide-optic shock at the results.

X was floating there, braced, thrusters blazing under his feet, the air around his body shimmering violently from the heat, but he didn't seem damaged or melting. He only looked furious. An archon of outrage, wreathed in shorn rock and churning lava.

“What are you slagging made of!?” Dragoon roared out of fear and frustration.

X suddenly leaned forward, flickering forward, then leg-stride-blasting his thrusters. The heated air pulsed around him. Dragoon tried to rush to meet him, a punch driving forward. X snapped it aside, spin-kicking into Dragoon's flank.

The willing Maverick barked from the impact, stumbling to his side. His optics flickered trying to track his enemy, but X was faster. Flashes of thrusters and blurs of his pale coloring were all Dragoon could track, barely able to brace against hammering blows from every side.

Desperate, Dragoon suddenly ignited with flame over his whole body. It gave X just a bit of pause, X's optics still sharp and resolute, only analyzing.

Dragoon wrenched his body straight, then folded backward, his arms taut at his sides as he roared to the cavern roof. The heat waves pulsed, rushed into him, and then flame exploded up from his maw, smashing into the ceiling with thunderous force.

Zero flip-coiled down tight and sharp, reaching the consoles in just a moment.

The same moment that the roof cracked, shattered, pulsed, and then started to explode downward in lava, fire, heat, and rock.

Zero found the console damaged, but didn't hesitate. He snapped in a direct connection from his waist. //Iris! I need this command system shut down now!//

//Wha—Y-yes, sir! Transmitting through your onboard now! Hardware errors! Uh... yes, there it is! Bypassing, this should... Another error. One moment!//

//Out of time, Iris!//

Zero glanced over his shoulder, and the moment slowed for him. Actual shock lit across his face.

It was X. His colors were changed, a hint of green and soft whites. It was so alien to the violent burning colors all around him... being swirled violently out from him by cyclones he had just unleashed from his hands somehow.

In that moment, he had completely obliterated the catastrophe Dragoon had unleashed. Dragoon was just then leaning his head down, showing the same shock as Zero, and now starting to show real fear in his eyes as they locked with X's head-down glare.

//I have it!// Iris snapped Zero back to reality, and he looked to the console. The various errors blinked away, and safety warnings returned, initiating a shut down fail-safe. Quaking rushes ran through the ruined facility.

//Oh no... W-we've stopped the meltdown, but it's too far progressed. You have to evacuate! That whole facility is going to melt into the lava!//

Zero disconnected from the console and twisted toward the fight. //...Understood!//

Working against his fear, Dragoon charged at X, fists and kicks flying in rapid succession. X snapped between blocks and parries during the bulk of the onslaught, then suddenly smashed both of Dragoon's arms outward, braced down, and full-thruster, shoulder-rammed Dragoon. The force of the impact and thrust sent the two rocketing into the far back wall.

Dragoon's chest plates were dented as he reeled amid shattering rock, but he started to twist into a tight kick. X snap-coiled over the kick, back-handed Dragoon during the spin, and then mid-air thruster-blasted into Dragoon by an elbow.

X rammed Dragoon through the wall toward the far side, digging a channel through the rubble and lava already leaking through it.

At last, Dragoon was able to get his head angled toward X, optics glowing, and his maw opened.

Just as the fireblast started to erupt, X's hand snapped toward it, and a cutting orb of cross-winds burst into form. It tore the fire apart.

X twisted violently, both arms swirling more wind, and one-two blitzed Dragoon into the wall even harder. The raw explosion of the wind-force sent X flying back from a blast of rubble, fire, and dust. X skidded back to a halt, his eyes already up and focused on the impact point.

Dragoon did leap out of the blast, but only barely. As his ruined body landed, his legs collapsed apart. An arm fell loose to the ground, and he dropped to the ground awkwardly, toppling onto his back as little more than a torso, head, and part of an arm.

X stood, and marched up to the remains of Dragoon, who managed a weak laugh.

“So... you r-really are... so strong... Even on my own turf--” he cut off into sputters and mechanical jams of his jaw system.

X was seething, barely holding himself steady, eyes burning through everything down at Dragoon. “All those people... All of those people just for this stupidity!?”

Dragoon managed a faint smirk. “Was... worth it... for a final duel.”

X's optics shivered, and he suddenly roared, an arm snapping up to blow Dragoon apart with cross-currents.

And he would have, if a tight grip hadn't stayed his hand.

It jolted X out of his raging haze, and he glared in instinctive frustration at Zero, who was staring him dead in the eye, unmoved, around their arms.

Zero's voice was calm, focused, even soft. “You regretted Vile. Are you sure this is something you want to do?”

X twitched, but was silent, his eyes flicking from Zero to Dragoon and back with clearly manic rage still holding sway over most of his faculties.

“Seems more my style than yours,” Zero added softly... and let go.

X tensed, his weapons priming up, but he froze again, even while glaring down at the now-confused Dragoon.

X gasped, as if he'd just burst out of a deep dive and needed air. He jerked away, shivering. “...Is it done?” jittered out of his vocal emitter.

“Shut down, but the facility is coming down on top of us. Shouldn't spread much, at least.”

X managed to look over his shoulder to Zero, clearly unhinged from emotional shock, but barely holding a thread of focus together. “...Take him, please...” strangled out.

Zero nodded, and jogged to Dragoon's remaining body. “Iris, got a plus one, telefield ready!”

As they warped out of view, X gripped his head, growling as tension curled his entire frame down.

//...X...//

It was Alia's voice. Had she been listening the whole time? He'd not even thought about it until that moment. And her voice... it was so quiet... pained.

All he could really think to say back was, //Help...//

The telefield engulfed him the next moment.


	12. Ad Astra Per Aspera

Alia would have been at the telefield array to check on X, had she any spare time. X's own timetable meant the was no room for repairs or calming down. The starport operation was ready to go. However, when the command center doors opened for X and Zero, she turned to see a clearly unwell X.

He was haggard, dark. The weight of the world on his shoulders was entirely too obvious, along with the dents, cracks, and scorch marks on his somehow upgraded body.

Alia wasn't the only one eyeing X with concern. Even Dex was wary, Signas and Iris sharing a little glance with Zero, who just shook his head.

X cleared his throat, forcing some modicum of calmness into his manner. “Do we have the intel we need?”

Alia actually stood up. “...Yes, we do, but you don't look well, sir.”

X drew his eyes to her. There was a hardness there she rarely ever saw directed her way, but it was also being mitigated and chipped at from behind. He didn't want to snap at her, but his instincts had tried to.

“Zero made sure nothing went worse with the geothermal plant. I'm not at one-hundred percent, but there's no time for buffing armor right now.”

Signas cut across smoothly. “None of us are worried about your frame, X.”

Zero had to smile a little. So X's circle of friends weren't just mindless followers. It was a relief.

X planted a hand on the holotable. “Your concerns are noted, but I can't act on them at this time. I need to deal with Colonel as promised, and then we can focus our resources on the final weapon station.”

Iris challenged him this time. “Can you keep that promise like this?”

X bowed his head, clearly restraining his emotional snaps again. He cycled his respirator and then focused on Iris. “Yes, because I have to. Doing what I have to do is what's carried me through to this point, it'll have to do for now as well. Alia? The telefield data is ready?”

Alia clenched her jaw. She was clearly debating how hard to push back on this entire situation. Zero was watching like a hawk, with Dex and Iris switching focus among everyone else with worry. Signas was unhappy, but standing at-ease rather than showing intention to act.

“X, I don't think you're fit to deploy right now,” Alia finally said it.

X's hand clenched the holotable, to the point of creaking metal. Everyone heard it. His teeth bared, his frame shivering, but he didn't roar or shout. Once that seething wave eased, he responded in a rasp. “I set this war in motion when I failed to secure the Lagoon. I promised Iris I would bring Colonel in alive. I need to do that NOW,” he finally barked a bit. “I am making this an order, unless you intend to invoke the codex?”

Alia flexed her hands slowly. It was clear that both Signas and Zero were considering doing it if Alia didn't, but none of them were certain.

“You promise, still?” Iris' quiet voice cut through the tension. “That he'll live?”

X looked to her, some of his softness finally returning. “I will do all in my power to keep my promise, yes.”

Zero glanced down, and Signas looked to Alia. Alia pinched the bridge of her nose, and finally relented.

“...Telefield will be ready by the time you get there, X.”

He twisted, flickering out of the room.

Alia looked across to Zero. “What the slag happened in that plant?”

Zero pressed a hand into his neck, his head sagging over it. “Dragoon was never infected. He just wanted X to fight him without holding back. He bragged about this fact to X.”

Iris held a hand to her mouth, Signas pinched his nose this time, and Dex just shook his head, turning back to his console.

Alia closed her eyes in resignation, and then sat down to ready the telefield as she'd promised. _If you push yourself too far this time, X, we're going to have a very long chat..._

* * *

The perimeter around the starport now truly resembled a warzone. Energy and physical projectiles of dozens of varieties sailed between the Repliforce defenders and Maverick Hunter perimeter units. Unit 14 kept up pressure with Shimmer cloaking volleys of missiles from Airstrike, who aimed them at cover positions. Each bit of cover decimated forced the Repliforce units to fall back slightly. Inferno and Crush Crawfish gave the Repliforce something to aim at, while blowing physical weaponry out of the air to keep pressure off of Airstrike and Shimmer.

Unit 32 was a bit more blunt. Deepfreeze and Blizzard Buffalo created masses of ice to obstruct Repliforce's view as much as firepower. The Repliforce teams would respond with demolition waves to blow the ice apart. And that allowed Volt Catfish and Overload to unleash storms of charged-up power. Between the ice walls and waves of electricity, the perimeter guard there could do little but stay occupied.

Unit 53 mingled its talents for maximum effect. Quickman darted around the immediate perimeter line, causing chaos and panic. Just as he retreated each time, Gravity Beetle would send gravity waves across key parts of the line, immediately demanding attention. Alongside this, Barrel and Tunnel Rhino took turns between intercepting firepower and tearing through defense positions, keeping the defenders staggered and off-balance.

Unit 61 had been reduced to only Spikesaw and Snapvice, so they coordinated with Unit 76. Acid Seahorse and Pyrostrike worked with them to tear into defense positions and enemy firepower, while Turbo and Blast Squirrel did strafing attacks to keep the Repliforce soldiers busy.

And Unit 27 had become a bit of a horror story among Repliforce already. Between Mapteron magnet mines hurtling around corners to scatter defending squads, and time-warping waves of distortion from Warp Turtle slowing the world around them, the Repliforce troops were all but helpless as Neon Tiger and Blast Hornet swept over them. The two kept taking one or two at a time prisoner, hauling them away rapidly to add to the psychological warfare.

Repliforce's defenses were more than fixated on the perimeter, which had allowed the scouting to proceed almost unmolested. It meant that it was clear that Colonel was guarding the docking platform that had been launching most of the ships spaceward, amidst the handful of remaining ships battling overhead.

He frowned as he looked at the holomap of the battle. It was entirely too clear that the Maverick Hunters were stalling, but so much of his force was required to hold them off, he could barely evacuate anyone without losing the perimeter immediately. All he really had defending the central docks were mechaniloid forces and a handful of snipers.

It was only in the shadows of his own mind that he could admit he'd underestimated the Hunters. Terribly so. They were a fraction of his army's size, but were decimating them on every front. There was no way to define what Repliforce was doing as anything other than retreating into a last bastion.

Surely it was Zero that had led to this? Though not the official leader, the sheer ferocity with which Repliforce holdings had been decimated spoke of Zero's determined style. Commander X was... too soft, too naive.

And that was when the alert caught his focus, his optics snapping to it. “...Impossible!”

The mechaniloids just outside his dock HQ had been broken in seconds. No notice, no alarms.

A booming clang resounded, and he twisted, saber burning out. His optics clenched as he watched the armored door start to warp and glow. In seconds, the thick metal started to deform and melt. Colonel braced, but the door didn't explode.

Instead, it just melted down around a burning figure. The heat ripples in the air were so intense the creature was unrecognizeable. Only after it had stepped clear of the molten mess and its burning power receded did it become clear who it was.

X, his colors only then reverting to normal, stared across at Colonel from his bowed head, grim and focused.

Colonel's brow creased, and he fluidly dropped into his saber stance. That was not the X he'd known before, not the Reploid he'd seen as naive. “...Has command finally stripped you of that foolishness and passivity, X?”

“Desperation did,” X returned flatly. “I promised your sister I'd bring you in alive. I intend to keep that promise. I also know you'll never let yourself be taken. All the soldiers lost that I use as a reason to stop, you see as a reason to hold on. You'll stay the course, die after them, just so their deaths aren't wasted... do I have it right?”

Colonel gave a saber-salute. “Finally, yes.”

“But what about your sister, Colonel?”

He firmed. “Iris chose to turn away from Repliforce. I will do my duty.”

X's expression finally showed more sorrow than rage. “She loves you, Colonel. She misses you. Are you really going to ignore that for a cause you've been losing since it started?”

Colonel growled, and started to dash forward, saber swinging. “We will never surrender!”

X's response didn't just block Colonel, it made him gape in shock.

The side of X's arm popped open, and a small device was launched out. X spun under it, caught it, and a white beam-saber blade ignited _under_ his fist, deflecting Colonel's lunge out to the side, with X locking eyes down at him over X's own shoulder.

Colonel glanced between the white blade and X's optics a few times. _Blind-man style? It's a technique so advanced most wouldn't bother. I'd claim some manner of gimmick or a bluff, but his response time was flawless. There's no flaw in his grip either... When did he even train!?_

Colonel leapt back with a blast of thrusters from his feet and legs. “...An advanced technique for someone who doesn't favor the blade.”

X swept the blade a few times as he faced Colonel properly. “It's a point I'm making. There's a great deal you don't know about me, Colonel, and I'm sure there's a great deal I don't fully comprehend about you, but we're both here, now, and this fight isn't necessary. All of your men can survive if you just share the order to stand down.”

Colonel refocused himself. He'd not expected a saber duel, but he was prepared enough for one. His expression became calm, cold, precise, and he looked up at X again. “We are fighting for our freedom, X. Freedom from annihilation by the humans. They should be glad we only wish to live rather than seek revenge...”

X snapped an arm out. “Colonel, there's nowhere to go! That station is a weapon, the humans won't stop coming after your people if that's their base!”

Colonel pointed his blade. “Mutually assured destruction kept the humans from wiping themselves out for long enough. You're not talking your way out of this, X. The General stands firm, and so shall I!”

Colonel charged again, and this time he double-faked, finally snapping a slash up at X's head. X wrenched his inverted blade up, over, and blocked, then twisted down to a crouch to sweep at Colonel's legs. Colonel coiled over the sweep, lunging down mid-air. X dove out, twisted to deflect the blow and unroot Colonel's posture, then arced a kick up at Colonel's head.

Colonel barely landed, and had to let his arm take the kick harder than he would've liked. Stumbling, he saw X closing on him, saber slicing toward Colonel's legs. Colonel thruster-flipped himself further away, and landed into a triple-slash combo. Each slice unleashed a plasma wave at a different angle.

Colonel remained braced even as he watched X fold, twist, and hop between the waves with such fluid ease that Colonel felt condescended.

“I was hoping to keep this sportsman-like, but I clearly can't afford to, X!”

X sharpened his eyes as Colonel suddenly wrenched upright, driving his blade to the air. The entire room pulsed with electrical charge, and X's sensors told him what was coming much faster than any verbal warning could have.

X back-flipped between two arcs of the building charge, and then ignited his hover-thrusters.

Colonel's blade was struck by lightning-like power, which then fed down through his system, and erupted across the flooring. A beat later, concentric rings of it around him churned upward, reversed lightning cracking between floor and ceiling.

Only after the mad display dispersed did X drop to his feet, unharmed other than steam purling off his frame.

“Colonel, I don't want to have to make you stand down. I don't want to hurt Iris like that. You have the power to end this madness!”

Colonel braced, and then flickered with raw speed.

Few could have kept up with his motions... and X had bested each of them in the past. Just as Colonel appeared, slowing for his strike at X's back, X's own blade was stabbed up from below, blocking the slash like a wall. How X's relatively tiny frame could block Colonel's full force swing was as mysterious as it was certain. The slight dent under his far foot might've been the key.

“Please... Colonel...” X whispered softly.

“Just because my sister is so kind as to be unable to join a war for her own freedom, doesn't mean I won't fight for her share of it, X. And I am tired of you speaking down to a soldier of the Repliforce!”

Colonel landed fully, braced, and roared as he shoved fully into X's block. It finally broke whatever trick X was using to resist the raw torque of Colonel's strike, and X was flung off to the side.

Colonel frowned, watching X recover, land, and face him without so much as a flicker of surprise across his face.

 _He believes it. That he can defeat me at will. Perhaps he's right? It's terribly easy to forgot this small Reploid has slaughtered dozens of the best, however berserk they were._ Colonel bowed his head slowly, and shifted to a two-hand grip on his saber.

“...I suppose we shall simply have to see what happens when two unstoppable forces collide.”

X flicked his saber out to one side with a twist of his wrist. “You have the power to end this, Colonel. On your own terms. Please...”

“You know my terms!”

Colonel flickered again, but it wasn't an attempt to hide his attack. He was just charging that fast, his blade searing the air toward X's core at full speed.

X bowed his head, his optics closing. He couldn't see a way to stop this without hurting Iris. His mind played through so many scenarios as only a machine mind could in that timeless moment. He only saw one way to keep Colonel alive without him surrendering by choice... He doubted Iris would forgive him.

Their speed was such that time itself seemed all but halted. As Colonel's lunge just started to reach X's chest, X flowed out. With a twist and fluid rush of his weapon arm, X cleaved Colonel's weapon arm at the elbow.

His limb still airborne, Colonel grimaced through the pain, reached, grabbed his saber loose in the air, and twisted to inverse-grip stab in at X again.

X was outside of it immediately, gripping Colonel's wrist with one hand, and slicing up through the elbow with the blade once again.

Colonel started to roar, arcing a leg at X's head in desperation. X flowed down, spun, and slashed through the supporting leg at the knee. He followed his strike back to standing in Colonel's wake.

Colonel crashed down along with his three limbs, his optics blazing across at his saber hilt, now hopelessly far away from him.

With a furious shout and wrench of his body, Colonel flipped onto his back, and aimed his remaining leg at X's back in turn. As his thrusters started to flare, X flickered, appearing past Colonel on Colonel's right, saber aimed up from a sharp downward slash with the inverted grip.

Colonel's remaining limb flew loose, and clattered across to the wall.

“Don't you dare toy with me!” Colonel raged. “Finish it! END THIS WITH HONOR!”

X straightened, deactivating and putting his saber away in his arm as he slowly looked down to Colonel's furious expression. “The only promise I made was that I'd do all in my power to bring you back alive.” He then leaned down, and despite Colonel's desperate thrashing with his torso, gripped Colonel's head. It only took a few seconds to crack through the firewalls, and acquire the security clearance codes he needed.

With Colonel still writhing in fury and pain on the ground, X sent out the signal.

//Repliforce forces. Stand down. Colonel is defeated, and your command center is held by Maverick Hunters. I repeat. Stand down.//

The din of combat awkwardly stuttered and died away. All the perimeter teams watched tensely for several seconds before white flags started to show, and unarmed Repliforce soldiers started to step out from cover.

The Maverick Hunters started to calmly secure them for transport to the new stocks.

X, meanwhile, finally knelt down beside Colonel, who kept thrashing, desperately trying to scrape or stab at X with any body parts he could manage. X just put his hand over Colonel's face, and used the breached firewall connection to command Colonel's body to deactivate his pain receptors, and go into repair mode.

It was Zero's voice that came through to X next.

//Is he alive?//

//...Technically.//

Zero's lack of response said enough.

X picked Colonel's body up, and let the telefield engulf him.

* * *

Some might've expected celebrations, but this return was strangely solemn. Hundreds of Repliforce soldiers were led to the stocks by most of the standing Maverick Hunters in case of complications. There were a handful of lash-outs, but nothing wound up requiring weapons be drawn.

It was telling that no one tried to push the line forward as they all stopped, watching the medical pod holding Colonel's shattered body hover past toward the medbay. As the Repliforce soldiers stood and saluted its passing, the Maverick Hunters just stopped and waited. It was noticed, and several of the more agitated soldiers calmed after being allowed to show their respect.

Obviously, there was little pause between this and Iris bolting down to medbay herself. No one in command tried to stop her, Dex just picked up the data feeds she was monitoring.

Once Iris was in Colonel's secured medical chamber, she froze in horror. Her steps were weak and shambling as she finally reached the side of the pod, her hands pressing to the surface at his side, tears dripping down her face.

She could see his vitals, see he was alive, but repair mode was so similar to death in appearances. With his rent body, her emotions had everything they needed to flood out. She sank to her knees, weeping and sobbing, hands clutching at the side of the pod.

Alone like that for several minutes, she didn't really react when the doors opened. Zero came through first, but once he was within a meter or so of Iris, he didn't know what to do.

X also entered, but stayed back near the door for now.

After a few more minutes, Iris calmed from her sobbing. That was when Zero eased closer, and rested a hand on her shoulder. She tensed up, but didn't lash out. It was enough for Zero to retreat a bit, a pained expression on his face. It didn't help that he wasn't sure he could have done any less damage to Colonel to bring him in...

Iris finally looked up, a so rare emotion on her gentle face. Sorrowful rage. And it was fixedly directed at X.

“You promised! P-promised that he would be safe! That you'd do a-all in your POWER to keep that promise!”

X walked closer, though not more than a couple of meters away from her. “I'm sorry.”

“S-sorry!? He's in p-pieces!!!”

Iris suddenly dashed up. Zero jerked, but X didn't react. She crashed into X, pounding her fists on his chest, slapping his face periodically from one side to the other. Zero started to move forward to hold her back, but X lifted a hand past her to stop him.

Iris continued sobbing as she kept wailing on X, slowly starting to sink against him with her fists.

X whispered. “I couldn't find a better way. I failed.”

Iris hissed up at him, “Did you try!?”

Zero finally spoke up. “You know he did, Iris.”

She snapped to look at Zero in pained shock, but it was the sad, guilty expression on his own face that stopped her anger. She'd never seen him look... hurt. And she knew it was for her sake.

At last, she let her arms sink from X's front, hanging from her shoulders, lost in pain and grief. X glanced to Zero, and then simply turned, leaving the room.

X's departure puzzled Zero somewhat, but he eased closer to Iris, just touching an arm.

“We'll make sure he heals,” he offered softly.

Iris suddenly flung herself into his front, grabbing onto him like a vice. It startled him, but he quickly hugged her back, bowing his head over hers.

“...Z-Zero, I can't... I can't do this anymore... I need to stay with my brother...”

Zero couldn't stop his own wave of sadness at that, but he knew better than to argue against it. “Of course. I'll let the others know.”

Iris' hands clenched into his back. “...C-can you stay? For a little while?”

He gave her a little squeeze back. “Yes.”

* * *

Victoria eased up to the last step. She turned, took a breath, and started to step carefully back down, trading legs with slow, but steady progress. The hand rails were right there, but she wasn't using them in this moment. It took most of her concentration, as a result, and she wobbled faintly once or twice, but managed to get back to smooth flooring without incident.

“Maybe I was holding you back? You seem to have done so much while I was deployed.”

She blinked, then smiled as she saw Shimmer. “I'm glad you're safe, Shimmer. And don't be silly. The mission went well, I hope?”

Shimmer came closer once she was standing steadily on her own, and nodded, though he was serious rather than smiling. “As well as possible, I believe, but war is war.”

Victoria exhaled, looking down at herself. Other than her T-shirt and shorts, most of her visible body was prosthetic. “...War is war, alright.”

“I'm told they have remarkably good cosmetic shells for prosthetics now. We're just waiting to get you fully adapted before making recommendations.”

She blinked up at him, then laughed softly. What was left of her organic cheeks blushed a little. “I'm thinking a little too loud, I see.”

Shimmer finally smiled, gesturing casually. “It's a natural concern, even for Reploids after messy emergency repairs.”

She chuckled, then glanced around herself. She eased back, and slowly, but smoothly lowered herself to sit on the steps.

Shimmer offered a gentle clap, and she smirked up at him.

“You're sweet, Shimmer. Regardless, I doubt I need to worry about how a date would see me any time soon. Just still getting used to it.”

Shimmer crouched near her, lacing his fingers together off his knees. “You don't need to worry, because you're still beautiful, but yes, you just need time to adapt, Vi.”

Victoria turned more red, and glanced aside, itching at part of her neck that was still skin. “...Are you flirting?”

Shimmer jerked, his optics widening. Vi glanced back to him, softly amused, realizing his face plate was taut in a distinctly embarrassed way.

“Ah-hah. You're very embarrassed all of a sudden,” she teased, leering at him playfully.

Shimmer coughed his respirator to one side. “Just, uh... taken unawares by the topic. If my own commentary is making you uncomfortable at all, it will halt at your word.”

Vi grinned finally. “Did I say it did?”

Shimmer paused meekly. “...No.”

Vi calmed to a simple smile, and then focused, getting herself back to her feet. “I really am glad you're okay. Since you're here, though, I think Colin was having trouble with his new knees still.”

Shimmer jerked, getting himself up. “O-of course, I'll go work with him immediately, thank you.”

Vi let him scurry off, smiling gently as she continued to do some simple leg exercises.

* * *

Cadis was not cogent enough to remember her situation yet. Her optics stirred, registering that she was in a relatively dim room, and that she was on a bed or equivalent thing. She felt so stiff, and her servos were strangely sluggish, especially down her right arm.

“W-what happened...?” she murmured.

A hand gripped hers softly. “A lot, but you're safe and healing.”

It was Tripwire, she could tell that much, but his voice sounded so soft and weak.

Her optics finally calibrated with her weary systems, and she started to gain true focus. Only immediate facts were clear first. Tripwire was looking down at her with deep worry... guilt? And she appeared to be in some kind of medbay, though it wasn't HQ's. “Why are you so upset?” was all she could think to ask at first, still groggy, but aware.

Tripwire raised his optic ridges, and then chuckled softly. “We can cover that once you're fully awake. It's... really good to see your eyes open.”

She tiredly stuck out her tongue, and he actually laughed a bit.

And then her memory really kicked back in at last. Her facial expression flared, and she jerked. “There's an intruder in HQ, we have to--?” she cut herself off in confusion as both Tripwire and her own body stopped her from leaping up from the bed.

That was when she finally looked down at herself, and saw the plating and binding holding her body together.

“You're safe, and we know. Do you have any idea who it was that attacked you two?”

Cadis took a few steadying breaths, now more directly curious of where she was. Tripwire's presence was the only reason she wasn't panicking over it. “N-no, I'm sorry. I saw a weird arm, yellow with some kind of fluid containment system for the bulk of the arm. A plasma blade out of the wrist was what hit me. I... screwed up. You were right.” She closed her eyes, and sank her head back with a bitter sigh.

“Hey,” Tripwire gripped her shoulder. “None of that, kid. You did better than most could have. Blindsided like that? Not sure I'd still be alive myself. We put a security lockdown in place, but couldn't find who hit you two, so missions have proceeded.”

Cadis glanced up to him again, and then flexed her hand, seeing how her arm could move despite her damage currently. “I feel a bit hazy. It nearly took out my personality drive then?”

And that was when Dr. Cain appeared, calmly pacing up with his cane-taps.

“Precisely so. We didn't repair your frame fully yet because we had to make sure your vital components took the repairs properly. It is very good to see that's the case, Cadis.”

Cadis was stunned at his presence, but his warm smile helped her relax again.

“W-why aren't we at HQ?”

Dr. Cain glanced to Tripwire, some dry humor to his expression. Cadis followed his focus, curious and confused.

Tripwire exhaled slowly. “I panicked in the moment. You were in pieces, and we knew someone from inside the base hit you, so... I brought you to a secret bunker I've operated out of with some comrades. There's... a few other things I need to tell you, now that you're awake.”

Cadis was still mostly confused. “...Wait, what happened to Double? Is he here, too?”

“He was only minorly injured. You were the primary target, so I got you the scrap out of there.”

Cadis eased again. “O-okay, I guess that makes sense. How's the mission going? Have I been out long?”

Dr. Cain shook his head. “Barely more than a day, really. If you hadn't reacted as fast as you did, you'd be dead. We tried to honor that effort. We'll get your frame properly repaired soon, don't worry.”

Tripwire just meekly nodded agreement.

Cadis showed a little smile. “Didn't expect to get special treatment from Dr. Cain himself, sir.”

Dr. Cain chuckled. “Happy to help, Cadis, though I should admit that I was dragged here in secret. Once I saw why, I focused on helping you.”

Cadis blinked, and then finally looked back to Tripwire with open concern. “...What's going on?” Uncomfortable thoughts were bubbling up in her mind, from Zero's investigation, X's own words, and Tripwire's odd behavior that she'd usually brushed off in the moment. She'd never really forgotten any of them.

Tripwire knew he had to get it all out now, he just had no idea how to start. He was keenly aware of both Cadis and Dr. Cain's eyes on him. He wished X was here for Dr. Cain... but he'd vowed not to hide things from Cadis a moment longer, and that moment had already come and gone anyway.

“I've been working for X from the beginning. Outside the chain of command. We call ourselves X-Hunters. Kind of a joke after the virus trio, yeah. Also a reference to... our previous selves.”

Dr. Cain tightened his eyes, and Cadis simply seemed more lost and confused, though at least not angry.

Tripwire gripped the back of his head. “Yeah, sorry, I'm being too vague here... I'm... I was Wire Sponge. X pulled my drive and buffer out, brought me back as... the person you've known.”

Cadis' optics widened, Dr. Cain glancing between them tensely. He'd be on Cadis' side if there was a fight of some kind, but he wasn't sure how she'd want to proceed.

Cadis herself seemed lost, disbelieving, and then a mixture of angry and defensive. “W-Wire Sponge!? That's not possible! That psycho killed everyone! My friends, Doctor... Everyone!” she jolted with emphasis. “X rescued me from him! Helped me recover from thinking I was a maverick! Thinking I'd somehow gotten everyone killed! You're... You're not that! You've always been good, helpful, and... protective...” she trailed meekly as she realized the redflags she'd blinded herself to.

Tripwire nodded subtly, pained, but accepting. “I killed everyone you ever loved before joining the Hunters. I was infected... but it was me. And then I lied to you about who I was. I... still wanted to help you. Try to... in some way make up for what I'd done, but... I always knew it was a delusion. You can't... fix that kind of thing.” He bowed his head, his optics squeezing shut.

Dr. Cain became thoughtful, troubled by his own conflicting thoughts on what was going on. He was outraged on Cadis' behalf, but at the same time... how exactly could Tripwire have handled it differently?

Cadis was clearly caught in a terrible emotional struggle. Her eyes were weeping, and shivering, caught between the sorrow and fury her emotions wanted to fly into. “...That's why you've always looked so guilty,” she rasped tightly.

Tripwire just nodded.

“...W-why... hide who you are?”

“The X-Hunters have known about the virus from the beginning. We've been trying to stop the Wily virus, and stop otherwise innocent Reploids from being wiped out. Public opinion would never have been on our side. Still won't be. I just... couldn't hide it from you anymore. If you want to report us,” he glanced up to Dr. Cain, nodding to him as well, “after this, I won't stop you. I... was tired of tricking you.”

Cadis was fighting against sobs, her hands coiling into fists at her sides. “The infection... you... did you know what you were doing?”

Tripwire was starting to cry himself, but calmly nodded. “I could see it, feel it, but I couldn't... really control anything. It was like being yanked into a tunnel behind my eyes, and... drowning in rage with no source.”

“...was it just guilt that made you act like my friend?”

Tripwire jerked faintly with the pain of that question. “...It only made me keep an eye out. I discovered how... good and kind you are on my own, and... have always valued your friendship.”

Cadis folded her lips together with emotional strain, and then managed another question, “...Did you... try to stop it? Stop them from getting hurt...?”

Tripwire nodded. “I tried, I swear, but... I don't know if I tried enough.”

“...Our friendship is real? Not just an act?”

“Very real,” Tripwire managed, though his own manner was cracking.

Dr. Cain's eyes were damp, and he was easing back from this clearly private moment.

Cadis sniffed, and then started to push herself upright. Tripwire jerked.

“D-don't strain your body!”

His hands were on her arms before he realized, and he froze, not wanting to drop her, but realizing he might not have permission to touch her either.

Cadis, still crying softly, started to laugh a little at him. “...Yeah... that was real.”

Tripwire looked like a dear in headlights for a beat... before Cadis managed to pull him into a hug. He was still terrified of hurting her, but once he had her secured safely, the hug soaked through him, and he trembled in her arms.

“...They were your friends, too,” she whispered softly.

He wept.

“Yes... they were...”

“We'll mourn them together.”

* * *

X focused through the mist of his opening repair pod. He was somewhat startled to see Alia right there. His injuries hadn't been severe, and it had only been a few hours. That passed quickly as he realized her expression was worried and grave.

“Can we talk for a minute?”

X climbed down to the floor, and simply nodded to her.

Alia actually pulled out a small device in her hand, activating it. X glanced around as the security scanners were flipped to a loop.

“I spoke with Zero,” she started, but let it hang in the air.

X simply waited, still attentive. He didn't seem upset by the idea itself.

Alia frowned slightly at how rigid X was being. “Are you slipping?”

X's answer was instant. “I slipped. Zero stopped me from murdering Dragoon. Colonel I couldn't see how to disable without removing his ability to move. His devotion to his ideals is absolute.”

Alia's eyes tightened. “Zero saved you from doing it again?”

X finally showed a flicker of grief. He was holding back a tide still. “Yes...”

“Did you thank him?”

“Not yet.”

“That's the next thing you're doing.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

A sad little flicker of a smile passed between them.

Alia then added more quietly, “I was... hoping this was a show for your... work.”

“...I'll be making use of it that way, regardless.”

Alia sighed, but nodded. “...Should work pretty well.”

X bowed his head, but also nodded with the motion.

Alia cycled her respirator, deep and full, and finally deactivated the little device down in her hand. “...Preparations for space operations are well under way, Commander. We'll have multiple drone units to engage the perimeter defenses of Final Weapon, and transport craft ready to insert units immediately.”

X straightened, forcing himself back into a calm manner. “Glad to hear it. Can you send a copy of the current details to the holotable? I'll catch myself up on the nitty gritty.”

“Already done,” she offered with a little smile.

X finally smiled, a sincere one. His voice was gentler. “...Thank you.”

Her smile warmed back.

* * *

Colonel's optics flickered a few times before slowly drawing open. Silent, he looked down at his shattered form. There were medical caps on his shorn limbs, and maintenance fluids were being cycled through devices behind him through fine tubes to each stump. Unsurprising, he found his weapon systems and comm systems deactivated mechanically. Without hands, he had no means of adjusting them back to functionality.

His internal chronometer needed adjustment. He had no idea how long he'd been unconscious.

“Brother!”

His eyes turned to his left, seeing Iris bolt against the side of his cot, her hands pressing to his side and chest. She was crying, and her sorrow was only deepening as she saw the hard, cold expression his battered face displayed.

“I-I'm so glad you're alive,” she rasped out softly, avoiding sobs.

Colonel croaked a dark response. “Only because your master wouldn't do me the honor of a soldier's death. Now I am a cripple at his mercy.” He looked ahead. It was the only way he could ignore her.

Iris sobbed at that snub, especially in such a moment. Her fingers curled into his plating, trembling with emotion. “...Why wouldn't you just stand down!?” she cried at the floor.

Colonel snapped at her. “Because soldiers don't give up on their duty just because it gets harder, Iris! Not like my traitor of a sister!”

Iris jerked back, wide-eyed. “I-I was trying to keep your people alive!”

“Soldiers accept the risk of death for something greater! Our freedom! A world just for Reploids, free of unfair oppression! Free of _murdering us_ because it's politically convenient!”

“You think I don't want that!? But what's the point if the people I love aren't alive to share it with me!?” Iris cried out, an arm flying out in emphasis.

“If I was part of that group, we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we!?”

Iris fell back a step. “...You think I don't love you? You're my brother! The only family I have! I did all of this for you! To keep you alive!”

Colonel growled, and wrenched himself with his waist, leaning at her sharply, his body trembling from the unintended strain on servos not meant to hold the weight alone. “If you want to do something for me, you can stop your Hunters from attacking the General! Let my sister take my place, where I should still be, lest I died! OR HAVE THE COURAGE TO KILL ME YOURSELF!”

Iris stumbled against the wall, crying profusely, her hands gripping at the surface behind her. “...Y-you... mean it...”

“Unlike your precious HUNTERS, I never have lied!”

He finally slumped back into the cot. “You clearly have not the stomach for these matters. Leave, and return to your civilian life with the humans. I will meet my fate with all the dignity I can muster.”

With his raging demands ringing in her head, Iris hurried out of the room, disappearing down the hallway...

* * *

Double smiled as the third maintenance team piled a few more things onto his mountainous crate of spare parts.

“Thanks, Double. I think you're good to get that into storage.”

“Yes, sir!”

He tried to salute, promptly dumping everything down to the side.

The entire team near the ship being repaired stopped, stared, and then either shook their heads to get back to work, or snort-cackled, trying to hide their mirth.

Double apologized as he started piling things back onto the crate. It took him several minutes, of course, and this time no one helped him. It was a little too frequent a problem for them to keep losing time on their jobs.

Eventually, he finally got to the storage room. He continued placing boxes and pieces in their proper locations for a time.

And then his comm link chirped. He tapped it on his chest.

Sigma's voice came through.

“Those Hunters can't be allowed in here. Make yourself useful!”

The line died, though Double still calmly said, “Roger,” to the end of it.

He straightened, losing all sense of clumsiness or lack of focus. Moving with new purpose, he started collecting specific parts and assembling them himself, tools popping out of his body. He was a walking machine shop...

* * *

Zero was on the roof of HQ, his ponytail lashing in the high elevation winds, but his optics steadily locked toward the distant view of the starport. He knew X was walking up to him, but didn't actually stir yet. His mind was swirling with scattered thoughts.

“...You alright?”

Zero took a breath, and glanced over his shoulder. “Not sure, but battle ready.”

X tipped his head. “Wasn't just up here for that.” He showed a gentler expression, sad and serious, but gentle. “...I wanted to thank you.”

Zero finally turned to him, an eyebrow up. “For what?”

“Stopping me.”

“I didn't stop anything. Colonel's in pieces.”

X bowed his head with a slow exhale. “...I meant Dragoon.”

“...Oh,” Zero muttered, glancing off. “...Not sure command suits you, X. You're cracking.”

“Honestly, I agree, but there's too much work left to do.”

Zero looked X in the eye, just holding the gaze for several seconds. “...I'm not sure Iris is going to get over this.”

“...I couldn't expect her to.”

Zero sighed, and started to pass X, patting his shoulder. “Not denying you were put in an impossible corner between everyone, but you kinda signed up for it.”

X turned after him. “I did. It's why I can't be upset with Iris. I... just also know I did my best.”

Zero paused at the door. “...You're sure of that?”

“...Yes. I need to learn to do better, but for now, it was my best.”

Zero nodded, finally starting to go through the door.

He would have, at least, if Alia's voice hadn't come through on the priority line.

//Commander, Zero, we have a serious problem. Get to the command center immediately, please!//

Both Reploids thruster-blasted back inside.

* * *

HQ was already going into lockdown as X and Zero reached the command center. Signas just nodded across to Alia rather than giving the report himself. Dex was busily working at his station, but Alia twisted and moved to the holotable to join them.

“Massive sabotage. Started with one ship having trouble taking off, and so I immediately called for check-start on all the ships intended for the operation. Every one has critical weapon or engine failures. Signas had the repair teams isolated, but they're just as confused and panicked as we are.”

X leaned onto the holotable, his mood returning to grim focus. “So our infiltrator was still here...” He sounded less surprised than one might expect.

Alia nodded. “And there's another thing.”

They all glanced to her.

“Double is missing.”

Zero growled off to the side, Signas just folding his arms as he considered options.

X, however, kept moving. “Do we have any ships left that could make the trip? Regardless of weapons.”

Even Dex had to stop and stare back at him.

Alia jerked her head free of her disbelief, and managed, “U-uh, there's a civilian-class transport ship we have. Can carry two, maybe three occupants, but it has no weapons of any kind, and no defense shield.”

X clicked another button on the holotable. “Shimmer?”

“Y-yes, Commander?” Shimmer was clearly distracted, but attentive.

“Emergency. I need a cloaking engine that can conceal a civilian transport while moving.” X glanced to Alia.

She was clearly exasperated, but didn't hesitate. “I'll send you a copy of the schematics for proper sizing, Shimmer.”

“...Copy. I assume the lockdown is because all of our fleet just got grounded, then?”

“Exactly. Me and Zero are going up there,” X affirmed before the comm-line clicked off. Shimmer was busy.

Zero blinked. “...I assume that's an order...?”

X looked to him with almost dry humor. “Unless you want me to go alone?”

Alia huffed a weak laugh, and Dex finally spun back to his logistical nightmare he was managing.

Signas had a milder irritation to Alia's on his face. “I imagine I have acting command, while you two go on a suicide mission?”

X nodded. “And if we go radio silent for more than an hour, contact the human authorities. The only way to be safe will be to destroy Final Weapon with surface to space bombardment.”

Everyone stared at him.

“If we fail, we can't let the virus manipulate that scale of weapon. Repliforce wasn't infected, but there's clearly been infected on the sidelines.”

With a decidedly more ominous mood settling over the room, Alia quickly twisted back to her console. Maybe she could find a better ship in time...

* * *

A heavy gate slid open around Iris and one other person. She was morose, but cogent, glancing around the chamber beyond. It was some kind of heavily secured storage facility.

“...Dr. Gate, how did you know to reach out to me?” Iris finally asked, though she mostly seemed numb.

The golden-framed Reploid doctor that had helped create Iris and Colonel smiled a little for her. “I'm a bit protective. I had sensors installed in both you and Colonel. I knew he was alive, but severely damaged. The rest was an educated guess.”

Iris nodded slightly, and let him lead her across the room, to a particular vault. Gate tapped in a few different codes in order, and it started to unlock heavy hydraulic pistons in spinning layers, each opening for the next.

Iris watched with little reaction, even as purple light spilled out over her, and her optics locked onto the sphere of glowing power.

“I'd always wanted to test it, but you were so averse to direct combat...” Gate commented softly.

Iris reached out, taking it into her hands without any real hesitation.

Gate eased back softly, his expression hard to read. “Are you certain, Iris?”

“No, but everything I've done up to now feels like an utter failure. I... want a world for Reploids. Away from all this. So I'll try to make my brother proud...”

Gate smiled, though it seemed a little too manic. “I'm sure you will, my dear. Go on. The ship is ready for you.”

“How will it get past their security?”

Gate tipped his head down. “I have my ways, and you're worth them all.”

“...Thank you.”

As she turned to walk away, Gate's smile twisted with a darker satisfaction.

* * *

Shimmer hopped down from the shuttle, dusting his hands off of each other with mild clicks. “Some of my best work. It should definitely get you to the station itself undetected. From there on, you're on your own, I'm afraid.”

Zero tipped his head, and X offered his hand. Shimmer shook it.

“Try not to die on this one, hm?” Shimmer challenged, only half-joking.

X offered a faint smile. “Still a lot of work left to do, after all. ...How's your friend doing?”

Shimmer blinked, then smiled more gently. “Vi's a strong one. She'll be back on her feet for certain very soon.”

Zero raised an eyebrow. “The cyborgs?”

Shimmer nodded. “I've been covering their rehabilitation therapy with Warp Turtle while Dr. Cain is focused on a project.”

Zero showed his mild surprise openly. “That... didn't strike me as your wheelhouse.”

Shimmer chuckled. “Dr. Cain teaches well.”

With time so short, they could spare no more for pleasantries. Shimmer and X shared a shoulder clap before Shimmer ran off, and X hopped up to the ramp. Zero was in his wake, and sealed the ramp as X went to the pilot's seat.

“I thought I was flying?”

“I'm the commander.”

Zero playfully glared as he took the copilot's seat. “Seriously pulling rank for the driver's seat?”

X shrugged. “I'm used to doing this alone!”

Zero smacked him upside the helmet.

“Ow! Why?”

“Because it's true, and it's stupid. Now let's go.”

X huffed a weak laugh, and started warming up the engines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late post, folks. IRL hammered me the last couple of days on scheduling, and I forgot to post it early instead. Thanks for the reviews and favs!


	13. Final Weapon, Broken Cores

Zero realized X was a surprisingly good pilot during that tense, though quiet ride. With Shimmer's cloaking engine humming in the back portion of the shuttle, they were able to coast by drone defense perimeters, and even past a few turrets as they finally crept under the shadow of the formidable space station.

Final Weapon morbidly resembled a flower more than anything, with one thick stem pointing back from a set of curved petals opened wide. X had studied it closely, but the human authorities had been careful not to let information slip off LAN connections.

X paused the shuttle near one of the maintenance docking bays, his optics scanning out across the horizon of the station.

Zero touched his shoulder. “We're not going to find better than this, we shouldn't waste time.”

X frowned slightly, but after a quick glance, he didn't see any promising prospects, and Zero was right about time. “I don't like how far it is from the command decks.”

Even so, he was steering the ship in smoothly.

Zero shrugged a little. “Wouldn't be the first time we've had to crawl through insanity to get to our enemies, hm?”

X was caught between a mild huff of laughter, and being offput by the comparison. He didn't want to call Repliforce enemies... but they were. He'd put too many of them in medical to deny that.

X directed the shuttle off to one side of the landing bay, carefully lowering down near one of the fuel supply stations. Few other ships were likely to try to land in such a precarious spot, and crews mostly moved around the other way. Crews of mechaniloids, that is.

“No soldiers,” X muttered with mild concern.

Zero eased around his chair, and moved to the cloaking engine itself that Shimmer had hotwired with surprising finesse. “Bays are exposed, even if secured. Mechaniloids make sense. ...Alright, looks like this engine has another hour of charge on its own, independent of the shuttle's power grid.”

X nodded, and shut the engine off, securing the cockpit controls in case someone else did stumble onto it. “My sensors are mapping the immediate area. Seems like two paths have equal odds of going the way we want, one higher, one lower starting out.”

Zero paused to glance at him. “...You already have that much detail? How?”

X just tapped his helmet, “Dr. Light.”

“...No wonder you keep getting into places no one else can.”

“That's mostly Alia, to be honest,” X added lightly as they both braced near the exit of the shuttle.

Zero gripped his Z-saber hilt, but didn't draw it yet. “She does always seem very _helpful_ to your endeavors.” The dry tone nearly choked the air between them.

X rolled his optics. “She does good work for everyone. So... you want low or high?”

Zero elbowed the panel to open the hatch. “I got high last time. Let's go!”

X started to open his mouth, then realized there was no point arguing the matter, and hurried out with Zero.

When it was clear no mechaniloids had immediately noticed them, X waved Zero on, and took the time to re-seal the shuttle so that it was less directly visible to the eye.

Zero avoided his thrusters for the moment, and dashed along behind the fuel storage. He paused at a walkway, and braced when mechaniloids started to come across in front of him... but they were just utility drones, and were not coded to pay attention beyond their tasking. They were just carrying repair parts along to a mechanical bay across the landing area.

With a ping from X's system to his own, Zero confirmed that this was his branch anyway. He leapt around the corner, and hurried down to take cover behind some crates before more mechaniloids appeared.

Meanwhile, X managed to all-but-spider-crawl up the corner near the shuttle, and pulled himself up into a ventilation duct. He had to quickly stop to deal with a sensor grid a few meters in, but thanks to Alia's training and his own systems, he was able to loop its detection safely without triggering alerts, and continue along the duct at a decent pace.

* * *

Zero had kept things quiet so far. What confused him the most was the station's general architecture. The bulkheads were comprised of layered patterns of plating that resemble art-deco paintings from old human culture. Further, the patrols of security Mechaniloids were milling about between substantial static defenses. Turrets, arrays of spikes that resembled frayed rope despite how deadly they were, and even missile-battery mechaniloids all waited at key points.

At one main junction, he finally had to stop, considering his options. There was no real blind spot between the guard mechaniloids, a Repliforce soldier, and a missile-mech. Additionally, the platforms they were elevated on were guarded by walls of the frayed spikes.

With his abilities, he could quickly dispatch two threats at once, but not three, not quickly enough. An alarm was going to sound.

//X, can you read me?//

//Copy.//

//I have to get loud to proceed. You?//

//Hm. Well, if it's going to get loud, that simplifies things for me, really. Go ahead.//

//Copy. You'll know in a second...//

Zero wrenched his saber free, twisted, and dashed into view all in one swift, smooth rush. He twirled and threw his saber up toward the mechaniloids just starting to take aim with their blasters. He boost-vaulted toward the Repliforce soldier as well.

The soldier shouted into comms as he brought a plasma-rifle to bare. The klaxons sounded, the missile-battery started taking aim, the mechaniloids were sliced into glowing pieces, and Zero landed kicking the soldier's rifle out towards the missile battery.

Forced to delay by recognizing a friendly target in the splash zone, the missile battery didn't fire immediately, and took several back blasts to the front 'face' above the mounted rocket launchers.

The soldier tried to switch to CQC, but Zero elbowed one forearm aside, ducked the blind punch from the other side, and knee-rammed the soldier's flank.

The Z-saber came spinning back, which Zero caught in one hand while the soldier folded around the knee-strike, and Zero twisted to snap the weapon toward the missile-battery.

The missile battery was skewered right through the core processor in the heart of its frame by the saber buried to the hilt through its forehead.

And Zero gripped the soldier in a headlock the next instant. “Go into repair mode, or this gets very messy.” His voice was a low rasp, heavy with threat.

The soldier struggled, grimacing, clearly determined not to surrender.

“You did your job, the alarm is up. You don't have to die for this,” Zero whispered, his tone still hard, but calm.

“After what you did to the Colonel, we'll never surrender!”

The soldier tried to wrench upward, but Zero sharply yanked back, removing the soldier's leverage with his legs, and then snap-wrenched the head the other direction with a cold and vicious grimace of focus. The nearly decapitated head sent an emergency shut down through the soldier's systems, putting him into emergency stasis.

Zero let the body down, and just sighed heavily. “Fair enough.”

He leapt down to the missile battery, pulled his saber free, and dashed ahead.

* * *

Once the alarms flared, X dropped all pretense of stealth. He thruster-blasted the ventilation below him, and dropped straight down into the middle of a formation of Repliforce soldiers and mechaniloids defenders.

X's colors changed and cycled so fast he almost looked like a cuttle-fish. He wrenched a chunk of bulkhead and flooring up with silk-shot to slam several defenders to one side, the other arm spraying out blasts of lightning web to shock and constrict another group of them.

Quickly spin-flipping over bolts and melee weapon strikes, X fired a chain-grapple into one mechaniloid, and spun to wrench it across into the next group of mechaniloids. The Repliforce soldiers watching him tear several defenders apart thus, quickly took fresh aim with rifles and pistols, accounting for X's penchant for wild bursts of agility.

Which is why X flared a charged rolling-shield over his frame the next moment. Most of their shots bounced or absorbed into the shield, and just as it was about to give way, X shimmered into nothingness from a charged chameleon shot.

The Repliforce soldiers shouted coordinating signals, immediately going into circular formation, facing out.

Above them, a series of rushes and pings echoed. Before they could lift their weapons to hone in on the source, rushes of slash-cutters, plasma-cutters, spinning-blades, and boomerang cutters tore their weapons to pieces... as well as the flooring around them.

All of the Repliforce soldiers, only then realizing they'd been herded into a single point, collapsed down to the next floor of the station with a chunk of the flooring they'd been standing on. Before they could recover from the violent crash, super-charged lightning web sprayed down over them, covering the entire area.

X gave them a mild wave before he burst ahead where he was.

* * *

Zero was a red wind of death for mechaniloids. He never stopped flowing forward. His saber spun, slashed, lunged, and his body coiled, writhed, and glided around enemy attacks. Humanoid bots were left weaponless or in pieces. Missile batteries were mostly disabled with precision strikes, but one was sliced apart at every weapon before Zero moved on.

It was the actual Repliforce soldiers that were the complication. Most he could just disarm and they would fall back, but others were passionate about their war, and forced his hand. Several more were left in emergency stasis, with precise holes through their torso's just off-side of their cores.

Finally, Zero reached an armored bulkhead, likely sealed when the alarm went off. He drove the Z-saber into it, all the way to the hilt, and then started to cut a circle through it with pain-staking effort. It had to be nearly as thick as his blade was long.

He paused briefly near the bottom of his cut as he heard faint sounds from the other side. Adjusting his audioreptors for more sensitivity, he realized it was panicked voices murmuring. These weren't soldiers.

//X, I've got noncombatants down here.//

//...Damn. Logistical staff most likely. ...I may have an idea to get them to safety, but it can't be put into action yet. Try to just get past them?//

//...Copy.//

Zero finished his cut, and instead of kicking the thick hunk of armor through, he gripped parts of it, and pulled it out. The molten metal at his slice let it slide forward like it was on syrup, and he rolled it aside before jumping through the steaming hole.

What he found had him pause awkwardly instead of brace for an ambush. He'd assumed panicked engineers and such might have set up some traps, but not this group. They were huddled behind armor plating, and mechanical parts amidst construction machinery all around him. They were palpably terrified.

One Reploid was nearer him, effectively pinned by his presence against the side of a metal-press. “...P-please don't hurt us...”

Zero sagged faintly, and just sheathed his blade before walking right around the one Reploid, and continuing on for the door. “Get to escape pods,” he said before vanishing around the next corner.

The entire room shared panicked, but relieved looks, and then started bolting for the escape bays. The few disabled soldiers they saw on the way made a few cry out in dismay, but they didn't stop.

* * *

X leapt clear over the exploding mass of a siege-bot. He dropped through the air, straight into an opening that fell to the floor below. Likely a dead-drop set-up to try to finish off weakened Reploids. To him it was little more than a free ride toward his destination.

It was the sphere-lock door he discovered that made him pause, his eyes sharpening. He approached it calmly, then paused again as it snapped the locking mechanism around, then pulled open without further hesitation.

He bowed his head for a moment, his sensors pinging off of some kind of device signal in the room ahead of him. He nodded faintly, and then stepped through into the darkened chamber.

Unsurprisingly, the door rammed shut and locked in his wake. X didn't seem terribly fazed, however, even as the lights suddenly flared online... with Double standing across the armored room from him.

X kept his head tilted forward, his eyes focused rather than shocked. “What are you doing here, Double?”

Double sneered, his demeanor alien and cruel. “Enjoying you fools! Maverick Hunters and Repliforce, all of you, complete idiots!”

“The people who took you in, despite your abysmal record?”

Double laughed outright. “My act? You lot never saw it coming!”

X remained oddly cold in his manner. “What do you mean, Double?”

Double's face lit with manic glee, and he suddenly hunched over, his arms folding ahead of himself. With a snapping, staged rush, his body warped and expanded, his bulk transitioning into separated armor plating, blades, and fins around... transparent, fluid-filled chambers.

Rising nearly three times X's height, Double's new, narrow face sneered again. Blood-rimmed optics, golden armor, and glowing, pinkish fluid filling most of his limbs, he let fiery blades of plasma ignited over his fists in a threatening gesture. “This!”

Only now did X seem considerate, but it was focused, his optics staring deeply at Double's. He was calculating something.

“Cat caught your tongue? Or perhaps just panicking?”

X finally showed sadness. “...You're not infected. Your optics are clear.”

“Damn right. This is going to be the most fun I've ever HAD!”

Double suddenly burst forward, his frame staining the air with color from pure acceleration. X seemed hard-pressed to catch up, narrowly folding to one side under one swipe, then leaping back, folding outside of the second.

Double kept up the pressure at ridiculous speed, his arms whipping and bursting in motion. However, X was just barely managing to glide, twist, or jerk out of the cutting paths.

Instead of frustration, Double seemed pleased.

“HELIX BLAST!”

He wrenched back, and ports along his torso flew open, unleashing buzzing blades of plasma power that started to fly out in patterns too varied to be pre-programmed.

X was immediately forced to flicker and jerk with flashes of thruster speed as the buzz-saw like blades came hurtling after him in swarming flurries. Double pushed in with them, his arm blades lunging, slashing, and chopping in a constant barrage of air-searing attacks.

“Master will be so pleased when I bring him your shattered corpse!”

X appeared utterly on the defensive still, flickering across walls, the floor, even having to do a full loop from floor, wall, ceiling, and down again during one onslaught, but he replied nevertheless.

“Why do you care about pleasing it so much?”

“Because he lets me do THIS!”

Double suddenly hunched again, and small blades burst out on jets, joining the plasma discs, and himself with a thruster-powered lunge straight for X.

There was no safe path, and X strangely seemed to be facing his fate with grim anger rather than despair.

* * *

Zero's path would have been horrifying if not for emergency stasis. Repliforce soldiers were crumpled, folded, or laid out with burnt holes through their chests and weapons scattered across the floors of various hallways.

It seemed that General had been smart. His most loyal and dedicated troops were more concentrated the deeper Zero got into the station.

When Zero reached a sphere-lock door, he paused, suspicious. It snapping open made his saber burn out and aim, but nothing came out for him, and no enemy fire lit the darkened space beyond.

Frowning, Zero glanced around, double checking his schematic mapping for any alternative routes. Likely be design, all routes passed adjacent to this chamber, unless he doubled back too far to be worthwhile. If it was a trap, he had to spring it.

Saber out and ready, he stepped through, his optics and audio-receptors attuned to fine disturbances.

As a result, he knew a Reploid was ahead of him, just not exactly who. The core pulse's subtle rise of heat, respirator cycling... and it felt strangely familiar. Too familiar for this hostile place.

Purple light filled the room the next instant. Zero had to raise a hand as his optics readjusted. He gaped, his eyes going wide with dilated pupils. There was possibly nothing else that could have shocked him more in that particular moment.

Iris stood there, grim and sorrowful, looking down into the purple sphere that had ignited afresh in her hands.

“...Iris?” Zero breathed out, still hoping he was just malfunctioning somehow.

She did look up to him. “...Part of me hoped it would be X. Maybe I could have turned myself on him more easily...”

Zero's saber was down and away as he started to move toward her. “Iris, I don't understand. How did you even get up here...?”

“A Repliforce shuttle. I failed, Zero. I tried to save my brother, and all he sees is betrayal. X... mutilated him.” Her eyes watered as her face constricted. “Nothing I've done has worked. At least I can make my brother proud for once.”

Zero was still too stunned to think as sharply as he normally would. He was scrambling to explain how this was fake. Iris couldn't have gotten up here, especially ahead of him. ...But when had he last seen her? How long had she really stayed near Colonel after that?

Iris cut his confused thoughts off. “Forgive me, Zero!”

Her hands flung the orb upward, and arcs of power burst out of it, slamming into and through her frame in violent snaps.

Zero's eyes flared in panic, and he thruster-blasted toward her. “Iris, no!”

But the power engulfing her was tremendous. His saber was deflected out, and his body thrown back to the very door he'd just entered with a painful clang and crunch.

Iris' body started to break apart, her optics glowing. She suddenly floated up to the center of the room, and her core broke out of her chest before the purple sphere merged with it.

Armor plating from the bulkheads around was torn off and wrenched toward her.

Zero kept trying to blast toward her, but the energy rammed him back or thick armor sparked against his frame.

What, at first, appeared to be a sphere of metal and energy, soon condensed and shaped itself in much finer detail. How it could do so was a mystery to Zero in that moment, but in only seconds, a valkyrie-styled ride-armor had manifested, with a knight's helm around a black T-optic, a buster-cannon arm, and mechanical wings fanning out behind it.

Iris' voice was filtered and empowered by the suit, resonating across the chamber. “I can't let you stop my brother's dream, Zero. My life is all I have left to use.”

Zero stood there, lost, staring at her in sincere horror and disbelief... while her buster-cannon primed with brilliant purple light.

* * *

It was a strange juxtaposition. As Zero barely remained cogent enough to dive to his side as a massive beam of energy ripped through the air he'd occupied an instant before, X was facing Double's onslaught with that grim anger.

X's colors snapped to greens and whites, his forearm plating adjusting out in vented radials, and he suddenly jammed both hands out to the sides as he curled into a thruster-dash straight to meet Double.

Double-cyclone wind-orbs sliced every direction as they flew out, tearing apart the plasma discs and sending the projectile-blades scattering harmlessly to the walls and floor.

Double was annoyed, but not afraid. His arm blades scissored down at X, only to finish their motion after leaving glowing cuts in the floor shy of X's forward blasting boots, the Hunter hovering and halting his motion just enough to avoid the intercept.

X then aimed his arms at Double's shoulders, firing again. Double was rammed back, as if punched from below, his armor shearing off several layers along his upper arms.

“It'll take more than THAT!” Double roared, lunging down with another arm-stab in retaliation.

X flickered out of the strike, and only then did Double's optics widen slightly.

Double roared as he slashed out again, and again, accurately aiming at X's new location, but never fast enough to actually clip the flickering, darting Reploid.

“You're never getting out of this room, X! I can play with you for eternity!”

Double cackled as he declared it, swiping this way and that, firing off helix blasts and blade-rockets again.

//X! It's Iris!//

X paused, glancing aside at Zero's so-uniqely desperate call.

Double cried in delight, coming down at X full force.

X snapped one arm up, out, and down, deflecting Double's lunge out to the side. Even as Double was flying down in surprise, X's other hand aimed into his face, and fired another double-cyclone.

Double was sent stumbling back, and X finally replied.

//Zero, I don't follow?//

//IT'S IRIS! She's here! In a ride-armor mech! I... I don't know how to fight... her...//

That did break X's focus. His eyes widened as he realized so much in an instant. His betrayal of the promise, her speaking with Colonel alone. Her loyalty to her brother despite her own nature...

As a result, the helix blasts, blade-rockets, and Double's slashing blade were too close to dodge fully. X abruptly shouted with exertion, whirling up into the air to dodge most, deflect others, and force the rest of the attacks to graze around his limbs and flanks. A slash from Double back at him caught his back, and X cried out, stumbling forward as his back sparked and pulsed blue energy ringlets before his systems could reroute power-paths.

//Disable the armor, stay alive, and keep her alive. I'll be there as fast as I can.//

//...Copy.//

X turned to see Double gloating, a satisfied edge to his sneer.

“Slowing down already, old bot?”

“One last chance, Double. ...Why did you try to kill Cadis?”

Double frowned. “Try...?”

“Try.”

Double growled, and then shrugged. “Well, she was getting awfully close to the truth, but really... I just couldn't stand that pretty little face and how _vexingly sweet_ she always was!” He clenched his fists, intensifying his arm blades' power. “I'll have to find wherever you hid her after this, and skin her plating off before I crush her core in front of her optics!”

X bowed his head, and then pulled a small device out of his back storage, narrowly missed by the slash. It was the twin to the communicator he'd given Double. “Did you keep this, Double?”

Double laughed raucously. “Your great symbol of trust to the poor, inept young recruit? OF COURSE!” He tapped his chest lightly. “I never knew when it might come in handy, but you walked right to me anyway!”

X flicked his thumb, and the top of the device actually popped open, revealing a second button. “Well, you had one part right.”

Double was confused for a beat, then X's thumb pressed down. The next instant, Double roared in pain as his entire upper left torso blew open, throwing components and armor scattering into the ceiling, walls, and floor, Double stumbling back in shock, his left arm falling limp.

And now, finally, did fear show on Double's face, while he only found grim focus on X's.

“That was for Cadis. This is so you can't hurt anyone else.”

X's colors shifted again. Still green, but darker, with some yellow tints, his busters turned into plasma-saw emitters. Wheel Gator's weapon. “Do you know what I did to her brother?”

Double snarled, and drove himself to lash forward with his remaining arm blade.

X just flowed outside it, his weapons glowing as they came up...

* * *

Zero only had marginally better focus after his brief exchange with X. Iris' super-ride-armor was fast for its durability, and the main buster was already leaving chunks of the room as melting haze. He could tell her heart wasn't truly in it. The precision of her aiming was mediocre, and with the weapon systems he could plainly see, Iris' talents would have made her nearly as sharp with targeting as Cadis herself. Perhaps she just wanted to delay him.

Waiting on X felt simultaneously idiotic, and the only thing his mind could lock onto. When Iris rushed him with a shoulder charge, he managed a slash at her far arm while he dodged, but was little more than a test. It confirmed her armor's durability was far beyond standard, barely glowing in the wake of his weapon.

What was more, the armor released drones out of its back in response to the impact, and he quickly had to dash aside, slashing through them as she turned about to take fresh aim.

“Iris, please stop!” he called to her once again. “We don't have to do this! Your brother is alive! His pride is stung! He'll recover!”

She aimed more directly. “You never understood him well enough, Zero!”

Zero's eyes widened, and he dove as she nearly vaporized him with that shot.

Zero recovered in a roll to one knee, looking at her in pained realization. She was pushing herself into a dangerous mental state even now, making herself obsessed with honoring her brother, and his damned pride.

“So you'll die because he can't handle losing!?”

There was more anger in it than Zero truly felt. He was scared, utterly lacking his normal confidence in this mad situation.

“Are you so different!?”

The armor buster raked across this time. Zero had to flicker across the chamber to avoid the duration of its blast, and he glanced back to see that two full walls had been burned deep in his wake.

Zero focused back on her desperately. “I get it! I'm a prideful jerk, too! But I would never have asked someone else to die for my failing! This isn't right! You're not a fighter, Iris, you never wanted this!”

“But you revel in it! Just like my brother! Part of you always thought I was pathetic for not standing up for myself with a buster on my arm!”

Zero flickered back the way he'd come to avoid the next raking blast. She was being riled up, more furious with every comment he made. The frustration was boiling over inside him. “Damn it! Iris! I only ever thought that for a moment! Before I knew you! Once I realized, I never would've tried to push this on you! Why do you think I left you alone after you retired!? I didn't want to push my violent life into your peaceful one!”

There was a hesitation at last. The armor paused, just aiming, no movement.

Zero softened faintly, a hand reaching out. “...Please, stop...?”

Her gesture was so clear the armor echoed it. Her head ducked down with sharp focus, and she growled with exertion, suddenly bursting forward, her buster charging a fresh blast that would go-off point blank if it could.

It made Zero's expression break. It fractured between fear, anger, and guilt. He didn't know how to stop someone from fighting when they were this devoted to it! Anyone else, and he'd just...

Zero's face contorted into a furious grimace, and he roared as he wrenched his Z-saber down into the plasma blast that finally went off.

It split the catastrophic blast from Iris. She flowed into a punch with the other arm, but Zero side-flipped over, kick-flipping himself off of the limb to go further out.

“I can only hold back so much, Iris! If you don't end this, I'll have to!”

Iris snap-twisted, aiming the buster at him from a long turn. “I know!”

This blast he dashed just outside of and charged her, roaring into a battle fury he'd rarely had to drive himself to. He couldn't let his mind think about it. He had to fight or he'd fail everything. Or would he fail everything anyway? He couldn't be frozen by that terror.

He slashed across the armor's torso in a flurry combo, curling up over the far shoulder to spring off. The armor did reel back a few steps, but the drones were released, and Iris started to track him again almost immediately.

Zero buzz-sawed through the drones, dashed out of the beam blast again, and shot past the armor with a fresh flurry. Iris could track him far better than anyone else in such bulky armor, but her plasma-beams were always just shy, barely singing his ponytail or boots.

This blast and flurry exchange repeated nearly a dozen times in rapid succession, Zero dicing up the drones he spawned at each pause. He was barely scratching the armor, but he was seeing his slashes leave more lingering marks. If he persisted, he'd wear through it.

Iris knew this even better than he, however. At last, just as Zero passed her armor, the chest opened in a snap of multiple plates, though it didn't seem to expose Iris herself. Instead, a purple prism floated out, large enough to compare to the armor's buster cannon.

Zero saw this, and braced back with his saber, trying to estimate what it would do.

Iris flew back, and as her buster aimed, the prism floated far out to her side.

Zero started to dodge, and just as her buster fired, the prism mimicked the same tremendous beam of plasma from a completely different angle.

Zero barely flattened himself in time to avoid it, spark-sliding under the second beam, and rolling to his haunches again, his eyes wide with focus.

Both weapons were already re-aiming, and Iris was deadly quiet.

Purely focused on combat as he was, Zero knew he couldn't leave both weapons up. Iris was too precise. And since he knew he could only whittle down the ride-armor, that left a specific target as his priority.

Once more, the beams fired, and Zero had to flicker. This time, however, he appeared on the far side, beyond the prism itself, nearly across the room from Iris's armor.

He vaguely noticed how urgently the armor twisted to cover for the prism, but it couldn't hope to stop him this close.

He slashed hard, a full-body wrench with both arms driving the hilt down through the air.

It tore down through the prism much more like his usual prey, but in the wake of his own attack, Zero's optics flared in realization and panic.

Beneath the purple prism itself was a power core. A power core he'd just nearly cut in half.

Iris' own power core.

Even while he and the critically damaged core were still airborne, the ride-armor started to groan and collapsed to its knees. Zero had that painfully timeless moment to look toward her with vicious clarity, realizing what he'd just done.

The prism's remains hit the ground, shattering, as his boots did, thruster-blasting toward the armor the same instant.

The ride-armor started to break apart, huge chunks of it breaking off and sluffing down like charred flesh.

Even as Zero was flying toward her, Iris was finally revealed from the inside, interface plugs and containment shielding cracking open and dissembling around her. She was mostly under-frame and parts other than her limp face and loose, tangled hair.

Her optics lacked focus even as her tattered frame of a body started to fall freely out of the ride-armor skin she'd created, a terribly dark hole in her central torso.

Zero's eyes were wide and tearing, droplets flying past his face from his pure speed. Even as he reached out toward her, he felt like the slowest creature in the universe, only able to watch her dying body crash down, so horribly limp and decimated.

He did this.

The sweet, kind, smiling Reploid with the adorable blush and so shy when complimented. He'd torn her apart. She was dying in front of him, so far beyond his reaching hand.

He understood now, so suddenly, why X had looked at him that way after he cut down Mac in front of him. If he'd been trapped, X cutting down Iris to save him from this... And he'd done it himself.

Desperation fed him, and his pushed through several safety limiters. His pupils glowed, his core strained, and his thrusters burst with explosive power.

He finally reached her, just before she could crash to the hard floor.

Zero gathered her frail, limp frame up in his arms, trying to get her head to lift up as he openly wept.

“Iris! IRIS!!!”

Her optics stirred weakly, and she looked up to his face. “...I wanted... to live... in a world... just for Reploids... with you...”

Zero was torturously mixed between relief and pain. He rationally knew she was dying in his arms, but she was awake! He petted her face desperately, trying to keep her with him. “Iris... there is no world just for Reploids... this is the world we've got... Iris...”

Her skeletal frame of a hand managed to reach up, and pressed to his cheek. It was horrifyingly weak, but it was there, and he grasped it to him desperately.

“I knew... but I had to believe...”

Her optics faded, her frame going limp.

Zero roared in pain, curling her to himself. Panicked desperation fed the next screaming rush out of his body.

“ _X HEEEEEEELP!!!_ ”

* * *

Double was left screaming in frustration as little more than a head and torso as X backflipped into the air. His systems had primed to maximum, pain searing through him from the overload, but what little time he'd had he'd run out of.

He finally activated it. Dr. Light's honed gift. The same catastrophic power that could erase everything around X, focused into a tight, contained skin of light hotter than the sun. Optics blazing, body bleeding light, X dove _into_ the ground ahead of Double, flash-melting through it like it was little more than paper and liquid light.

He'd never heard Zero's voice so desperate, afraid, and tortured. It told him everything he needed to know.

With his Light-built systems telling him exactly where Zero was located, X wasted no time navigating. He bore through the station like a beam of light, flash melting everything in his path. What few Repliforce soldiers and mechaniloids were left to see it, only fell back, stunned, as the flicker-rush of searing power that trailed liquified metal in its wake, several seconds after the fact.

The sheer brilliance and speed was all that could have shocked Zero out of his focus on Iris' limp face. He looked up in instant shock as X flipped out of his own path of light, body steaming as he landed to his haunches, flowing into a rush toward the crumpled pair.

Zero broke down. “I killed her. I KILLED HER! It was her core! I--!”

X actually planted a hand over Zero's mouth as he looked over Iris with intense focus, his optics flickering so fast they nearly turned black from the movement of his pupils.

“She needs a core, yes. Immediately. Her buffer still has her, but it's fading fast.”

Zero curled down. “I'd give her mine...”

X looked up to Zero. “You can... but you have to leave with her now for it to work.”

Zero gaped up at X, only shock delaying his response. “...Do it.”

X didn't so much respond as start working, reaching to Zero's chest and somehow deactivating the security locks that protected unauthorized access to a Reploid's core components. Zero didn't care if it killed him in that moment, he had no reason to hesitate, even if he didn't grasp how X could possibly perform such a detailed transplant in the field with no tools to support it.

Only once X was mid-process did Zero grow astonished out of his emotional stupor. X's hands and fingers were flickering and jerking to infinitely precise points, not just transplanting the core, but linking Iris' power system into Zero's own.

Zero had watched work like this on occasion. Even Dr. Cain, even the manufacturing facilities for Reploids, couldn't work this fast. And with even a faint glance to X's face, Zero could see it was using up every faculty the Reploid had.

At last, X let his hands back, and Zero felt Iris' shift. He looked to her instantly, and her optics shimmered softly. At last, she woke up, inhaling deeply with her respirator in shock. In a few seconds, she looked down at herself, then the glowing wires connecting to her Zero's own core. Her optics watered as she looked into his own tear-soaked, blissfully relieved smile.

“...Is this a dream?” she asked quietly.

Zero shook his head, unable to speak.

Only then did Iris realize X was there, and her eyes locked on him shock as he slowly stood up, clearly strained by what he'd just done. Her feelings were painfully mixed, so aware of what he'd done to her brother, but she knew better than anyone how impossible it was to save her in whatever time they would have had. ...Only X could have done it.

“T... Thank you,” she managed weakly.

X shook his head. “I broke a promise. I understand what that means.” Then he looked to Zero, who was unusually cowed by what had just happened. “Zero, you can't teleport together like this. Get back to the ship. As soon as you can, get the Hunters up here with all the transports they can scrounge up. They need to give the survivors somewhere to go while I finish this.”

Zero looked up with sincere worry. “...Alone?”

X tipped his head. “I can stop the threat, but a lot of lives will be lost on this station if they aren't helped.”

Iris clearly had her outrage at X cooled, and just curled closer to Zero.

Zero had renewed purpose, and he picked Iris up cleanly in his arms to make sure the core-connection wasn't strained. “On it. ...X? You're coming back, right?”

X smiled wanly. “My work's not done yet. Hurry.”

Zero twisted with Iris, dashing off. It allowed Iris to look over his shoulder, watching X slowly turn away.

It was the guilt weighing him down that really struck her.

He did know. How much it hurt her. He cared, but was doing terrible things. ...And she wasn't sure she could stay angry at him for it.

* * *

Zero had initially tried to keep Iris held close while starting up the shuttle, but she had enough power from his core to hold herself to him, freeing him up to work. He nearly blasted several mechaniloid workers into the bulkhead with the swerve and blast of speed he put into the ship, aiming straight for Earth to get into comms range as fast as possible.

Realizing something, Iris actually reached out from Zero, and pulled up sensor data. Zero was slightly startled, but didn't question her.

“...The defenses are still operational. No one can get close without a cloaking field.”

Zero growled. “Damn. Good check.”

He was interrupted by the comms crackling to life.

“--an you hear me!? This is Alia at Maverick Hunter HQ, do you copy!?”

“Yes, Alia, it's Zero! I've got Iris with me, she... needs medical immediately.”

“Telefield--!?”

“She can't teleport! I have to bring her in! X has a plan to get the survivors off the station, but the defense systems are still running. Can we retrofit anymore civilian craft for emergency evac purposes?”

Alia was unusually silent for a beat. “...X is still up there.”

“Yes...”

Signas' voice sounded next. “Alia patched me in. The logistics are too tight for that plan, Zero. Shimmer can upgrade maybe a few small transports. That station runs a crew of over a hundred, even at baseline.”

Zero growled, thinking as fast as he could.

Iris, still weary, but alert, focused back on him sympathetically. “A few ships could start? Maybe X has a plan for the defenses?”

Zero blinked, then nodded to her. “Signas, Alia, get as many ships rigged as possible, and have a large enough fleet on stand-by! ...Maybe X can pull off another miracle for us.”

“Another...?” Alia had to return in soft confusion.

“...You'll see when I get there, just try, please!”

“Of course,” Alia returned.

Signas offered, “Shimmer has been dispatched, and I've given him full maintenance team support. We still need time, even just to get started.”

“Hopefully that's what X is working on now,” Zero replied, unable to keep the doubt out of his voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again, folks. It's been a weird week. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm especially interested in feedback on what happened here with Iris!


	14. Final Choices

X was well aware of how little time he had to make his request of Zero and the others feasible. He couldn't risk different systems or server hubs not having enough access. He had to go straight to the most likely source of full control.

Ripping through armored doors, blasting mechaniloids apart that tried to blockade him, X was traveling at full speed, flickering down the corridors like a stain of color and light on the air.

Energy was writhing over him as a final blockade of Repliforce soldiers, with siege-bot support, tried to bar his path from a heavy door behind them. They started to aim and fire, but X suddenly shimmered into nothingness.

Halted in fear and confusion, even the mechaniloids tried to scan for the missing target.

X poured out of the air behind them, his busters vaporizing the siege-bots on either side of him, letting molten chunks collapse into the flooring.

As the soldiers twisted to counter him, he jammed his arms forward, colors snapping, and he unleashed a spray of lightning web over the platoon, stunning and trapping them helplessly.

X started to close on one of them with an ID tag on his arm, but the heavy doors behind him started to open. X stopped, glanced over his shoulder, and then simply boosted into the chamber beyond. He didn't flinch as the huge door hydraulically rushed shut in his wake.

The tremendous room was clearly intended to be a seat of authority. Reaching several meters upward, and spreading out as far in every direction, it had a pristine floor, and a great throne beyond.

Seated there with a similar grim resolution on his face to X was the Repliforce General. He was a towering Reploid, all but a sapient siege weapon.

“I see now why you campaigned against the creation of Repliforce, Megaman X. There is little need of armies with something like you on the field.”

X slowly drew his hands into fists, a sharp edge of anger cutting into his expression. “A lot of lives have been lost because of your choices, General. Drop the defenses, let my people get yours off this station before it's too late.”

General leaned forward to slowly rise to his feet. He was easily four times X's size, a walking bulwark of armored plating and likely firepower. “It is precisely due to those lives lost that I cannot stand down, Maverick Hunter X. To surrender after so many have died would be the greatest cowardice and betrayal. I did what I thought best with gifts from dark strangers. Now? My fate is sealed... I have no choice.”

X's brow quivered with frustration and outrage. Flashes of Colonel's body falling apart, Iris' shattered form, Zero's grief, Alia's fear and concern, all of the X-Hunters sacrifices and pain, and the shattered city from the Lagoon all stormed through his mind as the General spoke of having no power to stop the atrocities he'd put in motion.

“Your human masters tried to wipe us out with no proof of wrong-doing. If you will fight so fervently for such murderers, I will meet you in kind,” General replied to the constrained fury in X's eyes, and large, cannon-like thrusters articulated out of his back. With a thunderous boom, they obliterated the throne itself... clearing the floor for battle.

X wrenched one arm out to the side. “Who do you think gave you the deactivation code!? Who do you think asked your people to stand down so they could be RULED OUT at the start of this insanity!?”

General paused, his optics tightening. “...Why would you supply us the means to survive, and then hunt us nearly to the last?”

“I've done everything in my power to SAVE every last one of your soldiers! While you constantly threw them in my path to be torn apart! ONE ORDER from you,” X stabbed a finger toward General, marching toward him, “would have ended this before it started! Iris' brother would never have been torn to pieces! All of your high command staff would still be ready to serve and protect the world they signed on or were created to protect! And instead, you let a psychopathic, maniacal program manipulate you into helping cause one of the worst outbreaks of violence in this CENTURY!”

General frowned, anger etching through his own expression. It was so dreadfully similar to Colonel's own pride and determination. “So be it.” His fists clenched and he raised them to either side. “If my crimes are so mighty as you say, then make me pay for it with your own hands, Maverick Hunter. I will not stand down from the ideals of my people! Come! Show me your true power!”

X grimaced, but also started to gather energy over his frame with a building thrum and chimes.

General hesitated no further, clenching his fists. The buckle of his 'belt' glimmered with golden plasma, then erupted into three different bolts before lancing down toward X.

X flickered forward, his charging body dragging trails of power off the blasts as he curved and glided between and around them.

General slammed one fist down into the flooring in front of X. The Maverick Hunter leapt onto the mighty limb, climbing, flipping, and crawling up toward the shoulder armor with astonishing finesse.

No fool in combat, General snap-twisted his body. It flung X off, though the Hunter was already recoiling to land smoothly. Immediately after, General braced back to unleash six golden bolts. X had to twist, coil, land, boost-back, and side-flip between and over each of them in rapid succession.

Looking up at General after pausing on three limbs, X's brow creased as General curled his arms back, then rammed them forward.

When no blast immediately fired off, X realized something else was coming, and he thruster-dashed to his right. In the same moment, General's forearms disconnected from his body, and rocketed across the chamber. X barely flipped and coiled over and ahead of each, glancing back to watch them nearly melt the reinforced metal of the floor and wall from sheer impact force.

X corkscrewed through the air to maintain his dashing speed, snapping off charged buster-blasts in a one-two strike toward General's legs. General actually stepped into them, bracing against the potent impact, but letting the energy wash around his heavy plating with little more than steam on his frame to show for it.

Further, the joints that had separated to fire off his arms were now more clearly revealed to be some kind of energy emitters. As the rocket-arms wrenched themselves out of their craters to jet after X again, General's arm-stumps started to spray flickering blue orbs of power toward X. Each orb was half the size of X himself, and moved fast, leaving distorted trails of heat in the air.

The closest few were nearly upon X in seconds, and he swerved sharply to throw himself out of their reach. In the same instant, they hit the wall and flooring, abruptly exploding out into waves of blue plasma flame. The next beat, General's fists came rocketing through the super-heated light like guided missiles.

The raw explosions of plasma had already sent X flying violently. With the fists following, X had to coil, plant his hands into the first fist so he could twist-roll along it, and flip over the second, yanked into a more violent spin by the pure wind-shock of its passing.

And with the room becoming an exploding wave of blue plasma fire on top of him, X had no time to consider a more coherent plan. He full-force thruster-blasted himself away from the flames, racing along the one wall.

All the while, General simply panned his emitters across the chamber, adding golden bolts to the onslaught, his flying fists retreating only to re-aim and ram down afresh over and over.

X's speed had built enough to allow him to strafe-glide around General in a circular pattern, snapping off a few more charged blasts. These hit the arms, the stomach, and the chest... and dispersed over the thick plating as simply as they had on the legs.

Swerving around one fist, cork-screwing between two bolts, arcing over more, and then scrape-sliding under the second fist, X saw the blue flames raging ahead of him as fresh ones churned after his wake.

Apparently the General could survive being inundated with super-hot plasma, but X's defenses would only allow him to endure it so long.

X didn't seem afraid, however, side-glancing to meet General's eyes for a timeless beat. General's optics sharpened, and he started to churn his plasma emitters upward. X would be swallowed in destruction in seconds.

And X swerved to the wall this time, back near the door from whence he'd entered. Yet, he didn't try to escape.

Instead, thrusters blasting with each lunge of his legs, X started to ram himself up the door. Each reaching, vertical rush was like a small rocket firing, his energy was so focused into his legs. Beyond this, he was pulling waves of power into his frame, including coils of the blue flame billowing up and closing all around from below and the sides.

The two fists shot past, too slow for X's focused speed this time, and golden blasts exploded just beneath his climbing strides on both sides in a rapid cluster wave.

General continued pulling his arms upward, spraying plasma-orbs in cloud-like volleys of energetic death, sure he could crush X against the ceiling at the very least, though wary of how fast the smaller Reploid could climb.

Just as X flew up to where the wall met the ceiling, blue fire spreading up beneath him so quickly, he arced back, explosively thruster-dashed off the wall with both legs, and spread his arms out.

His glowing body sailed along the ceiling, barely centimeters from it, the blue flames churning up to start lashing into the metal behind and beside him.

And yet, he was faster. His expression calm, if grim, he started to twist as the flames began to falter beneath him. X folded with his turn, and General looked up in growing, shocked realization as the small Reploid came sailing over the brim of the inferno, wreathed in power, and one buster clearly aimed directly between General's own optics.

General tried to reel back, his rocket fists starting to surge out of the conflagration as it started to envelope his own position, but it was simply too late.

X fired a fully powered blast, his arm pulsing back, the air shocking all around him. It was a short-burst release, but still catastrophic, utterly engulfing General's head after impacting his face.

General's upper body became vague within the blast of light and power, his weapons halting their fire as he crashed back with thunderous steps, vanishing into his own inferno.

X thruster-hovered during this vital pause, the conflagration only washing over him for a brief corepulse before the absence of renewed fire allowed it to start to die down.

Dropping sharply, X landed to his haunches amidst gentle pillars of steam and shimmering air. He looked up to see a shadow in the steam towering above, but X wasn't alarmed.

As the steam started to fade to the sides and away, it was clear General was in no condition to keep fighting. With a fractured, broken face, the plasma heat had gotten behind his armored body. The thermal shock had blown chunks of his armor and even some body parts off, strewn about as wreckage now. He hovered there with his back thrusters, an arm and leg missing, huge swathes of his armor just gone, and his working optic somewhat numb as it focused down on X.

“...I can't regret my actions, Maverick Hunter, but I do recognize a defeat when I experience it.”

General calmly looked up for a moment, his optic tightening. After a moment, he looked back down. “...The defenses are inactive. ...Save my people.”

X straightened up, touching his audio-receptor. “HQ, do you copy?”

“X!? How are you...?” Alia returned instantly in surprise.

“The defense systems are down, evacuate the station, please.”

“...Sounds like you worked the miracle Zero was talking about?” Alia asked with relieved humor.

X wanted to share her warm humor, but he couldn't. Not after all this. “Not sure about that... but hopefully this is--!?”

He cut himself off, General likewise jerking with alarm as the entire station began to quake, the false gravity buckling under system strain.

“...Impossible,” General declared in sincere confusion. “The station can't be activated right now!”

X's optics widened. “The weapon system!?”

“Yes, the station is re-orienting to aim!”

X twisted for the doors. “Where is the control mechanism!?”

“The core decks, I'm broadcasting a map.”

X just gave a thumbs-up to the General as he ripped along the ground, spin-twisting to fire another full blast of power... incinerating the massive door he'd been 'trapped' by.

Alia's voice returned in similar urgency. “The station is orienting to fire on Earth!”

“General warned me! I'm heading down to the control decks now. We need those people evacuated! I may have to drive this place critical to stop it from firing!”

“And what about surface to space bombardment? X this is too big of a risk!”

“Please, don't make me pull rank on something like this,” X pleaded tightly as he flickered down halls and maintenance shafts.

Alia sighed heavily, bowing her head at her console. “...Copy.”

“...Thank you.”

* * *

“Even I try not to rely on my camo this completely,” Shimmer muttered darkly to himself as he piloted one of the few stealth-rigged shuttles away from the Final Weapon station.

His sensors showed him exactly how many heavy defense turrets were scanning constantly for ships or signatures. It didn't help that his stealth generators only hid a small bubble around the individual ships, and he could watch the cannons tracking his wake constantly as they detected heat, but no discernible target.

“Are we prisoners?”

The voice from behind him gave him a mild start, and he glanced over his shoulder with his large optics. One of the logistical staff of Repliforce was standing there, timid and stressed.

“Don't know, honestly, but this is an evacuation, not a capture. That'll be up to the commander once we're all safely land-side.”

The Reploid behind him glanced further back, to the one side of the shuttle that was emergency-stasis soldiers, and the other side of nervous staff like him.

“Why... why are Maverick Hunters helping us?”

Shimmer tightened his optics, but kept focused on his flying this time. “Contrary to popular belief, we never wanted to fight you.”

The Reploid engineer was understandably confused, and so just backed away, and huddled down with his comrades. Looking to the stasis-locked soldiers, he did notice, from an engineering standpoint, that their bodies had been struck with almost surgical precision. And the fact that all of them were, indeed, in stasis, not dead, confirmed it was deliberate rather than 'lucky misses' that had kept them all alive.

Maybe this really was a rescue...

* * *

Airstrike checked the 3D mapping of the friendly shuttles on his HUD as he piloted one of the stealth-rigged ones himself. Shimmer's was the furthest back, which was mostly to allow him to follow Airstrike's lead the easiest. Inferno and Crush Crawfish's shuttles were loosely between them.

And beyond the defense sensor range of Final Weapon, a veritable wall of shuttles were waiting on stand-by. He'd helped coordinate their formation himself as he lead his smaller squadron through gaps in their ranks.

Grim, he glanced to the estimate population of the station, and how many his squadron had evacuated so far. “...It's not enough. Come on, X...”

* * *

Quickman was among those piloting shuttles on stand-by. Watching the second trip of Unit 14's stealth ships without being able to act himself was nettling his circuits severely.

“Dex, can you read me?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do we have any estimated time from Zero or X on this supposed defense disabling?”

“If all goes well, any second, but that's been true since before we scrambled all of you.”

Quickman rasped a sigh.

“...Wait!” Dex blurted out abruptly next. “...It's happening! Verified defense shut-down across 30%--40%--50% down! It's dropping across the whole station!”

Quickman pumped a fist despite himself. “Signas, order to advance?”

“Hold on—All ships! The station is changing position!”

Quickman snapped his optics to the station itself in the distance, watching it start to rotate softly toward Earth. “...We're out of time.” He hit the comm instantly. “Signas!? We're out of time and those defenses are down!”

Broadcasting across the fleet of shuttles, Signas replied, “If that station fires, all of you will be obliterated.”

Quickman started to persist, but stopped with mild relief as he didn't have to.

“We're here to save lives, sir,” Deepfreeze began.

“We've wasted enough time standing by,” Overload.

Blizzard Buffalo added, “We owe many this debt.”

“And we're here to pay,” Volt Catfish finished.

Signas pinched the bridge of his nose, but couldn't deny he agreed. “...All ships, commence operations.”

The entire fleet of shuttles burst forward, arcing and spreading out along Airstrike's recommended paths to reach docking points all over the station, even as it started to calibrate it's primary weapon.

* * *

The core levels were very much like a huge engine room. Dark, industrial, utilitarian, and near-empty. X used his mapping HUD to travel at close to his maximum speed, skating around corners, leaping duct work rather than taking turns in the catwalk flooring, and rushing between ventilation fans for the same reason. As a result, it didn't take him long to reach the primary engine systems at the very heart of the station.

Discovering a sphere-lock door where he should've only found a safety-seal bulkhead made X's brow crease as he halted for the first time since bursting out of the General's chamber. He then calmed his face, and straightened. “I suppose you wanted to see if the General would actually manage to kill me, first?”

A satisfied cackle resounded from above, and X finally looked up into the shadows to watch a shrouded figure drift down just into view, staying airborne.

Very much, and likely deliberately so, appearing as a grim reaper, complete with tech-scythe, though without a visible blade at the moment, the shroud continued its dark mirth for several seconds.

“It always does come down to us, doesn't it, X?” Sigma queried with a sneer in his voice.

“You make sure of that, not me.”

“I'll admit, you impressed me with Double. Maybe you have learned a thing or two since this rivalry of ours started.”

“I expected your spy to use Hunters, not try to kill them. I should've realized you can't keep rational servants in line.”

The scythe was spun with a flicker of speed, simply to trade to the other arm. “Rationality is murder when you're trying to commit genocide! But tell me, X, does it comfort you that I'm so easy to hate? That you've never had to gun down a real friend?”

X's expression fractured with barely restrained outrage. “I've had to mutilate friends because of your infection. I don't forget that.”

“And what if I told you it wasn't MY infection?” Sigma returned with a fresh sneer.

X started to build power over his frame, streaming coils of blue, pink, and yellow light writhing over him. “You've always been Wily's virus.”

Sigma sighed in annoyance. “Such a bore, you are! What if I told you that your precious friend, Zero, was the original host!?”

X snapped one arm into a buster. “I know.”

Sigma paused in confused wariness at last.

“But what does comfort me,” X continued, “is that you were so focused on goading me into a psychotic episode, you stopped moving the station.”

Sigma jerked a look over his shoulder, snarled, and flickered up out of view.

X wrenched his arm up, firing a fully charged beam-blast at the sphere-lock door. It vaporized a 3-meter wide hole where the door had been, and let him leap through.

He was on the top level of the central control system for the station's engines. His optics flashed around, trying to confirm if he could override the movement from here.

“NOOOO!”

Sigma's voice thrummed out with unnatural force, and X had to twist-flip sharply to avoid a crackling, white-green plasma blade ripping through the air he'd occupied.

Sigma's shrouded form sailed across the ceiling with the slash, and then swirled into nothingness.

X frowned. _Hardlight trickery? Or just supremely enhanced speed? His attacks are fast, but not impossible to avoid._

The quake of the station continuing to move got his attention, and X twisted back to the consoles he could see.

Only to get a beam-blade flying at his face. X had to snap-fold down, feeling the heat of the passing blade along his face.

His optics, however, tightened at the lashing folds of Sigma's cloak. It was real. Thick and heavy. It gave X an idea.

Sprinting toward one wall, X waited. When Sigma reappeared, X's colors switched to deep red and orange hues, and just as Sigma came sweeping in with a fresh shout and his scythe, X rammed his arms up, using Magma Dragoon's weapon system to unleash a torrent of fire straight up.

X spin-twisted around the scythe as Sigma cried out in frustration with his cloak ablaze. Facing back toward Sigma, X watched the cloaked figure float down, only for the cloak itself to be thrown off.

Sigma straightened, turning with a sneer. His bald head with laser-lens in his forehead was recognizable instantly, but his body was a layered, armored mix of skeletal and mechanical features, colored in blues, yellows, and whites.

Sigma tossed his scythe up in a spin, catching with his other hand casually. “Are you ready for round 2?”

With how pleased Sigma seemed with himself, X remained braced, letting his colors revert. The complete lack of harm on Sigma's frame indicated flame wouldn't help again.

Sigma leapt up, throwing his spinning scythe at X like a buzzsaw. X leapt up with a backflip to avoid it. The weapon slammed into the flooring, and starting to pulse crackling waves of electrical power across the whole floor. X thruster-blasted himself further up with a shout of surprise.

Just as his legs hit the wall, however, Sigma braced his frame wide, and his optics flared with power. A beat after, beams of green plasma poured out, tearing up through the wall toward X.

X had to flip out over them both, and then unleash his thrusters at full hovering force to avoid the wall and floor entirely for as long as he could.

Sigma cackled, his eyes relaxing, and his scythe snap-coiling back to him. He caught it with ease, and then braced again, this time the bracing frames on his shoulder-guards snapping out into the air, then ricocheting out across the walls toward X.

X landed heavily from his thrusters cutting out, and had to dive-roll away from the bouncing metal blades. And before he could really steady himself, Sigma's scythe was rushing toward him once again.

This time, X wrenched himself up, the scythe redirecting after him. It just missed... and slammed into a wall instead of the floor. As the wall electrified, X flipped back into hovering as Sigma raked the floor with his eyebeams.

X narrowed his optics. _He's happy. Too happy. He must believe he's already won, and that this is just a game. So Final Weapon isn't being slowed down, he's just waiting... For what?_

Sigma recovered his weapon, and rushed X down with rapid swipes and lashes of his scythe, forcing X into a series of folds, weaves, and twists.

 _Waiting for me? He wants me to watch Earth be decimated? Or..._ X's optics widened with realization.

Abruptly, X coil-twisted, and grabbed onto Sigma's scythe. It startled Sigma enough to have them both lock that way, each holding the weapon rigidly.

X was only buying time, however. Most of his systems had re-aligned for cutting through the jamming and natural loss of signal this deep inside a giant hunk of metal.

//Alia! If you read this, scatter the evac ships! Disperse them! The Virus wants to blow them apart before taking out Earth!//

* * *

Alia didn't waste time replying to X this time, the signal was too weak. She was lucky she'd heard it in the first place. After a split second to confirm the station's orientation fit X's fear, she twisted from her seat. “Signas! Evac ships need to scatter right now!”

Signas demonstrated he had no doubt in Alia's abilities.

“All ships, avoid incoming fire. All ships, disperse, disperse, disperse!”

The Maverick Hunter pilots switched to a thankfully-prepared emergency dispersal route that Airstike had arranged for them.

As Shimmer swerved into his part of it, he rasped to himself, “And here I thought Airstrike was a worry wort. Slagging Mavericks.”

As all the ships scattered like a school of fish from a predator, the massive pinnacle of Final Weapon crackled with yellow-white power. It was still off-angle from Earth, but it had been directed toward the heart of the ships. They scattered just in time, a massive, lancing beam-shock of power filling the cold void they'd been traveling through a few seconds before.

Deepfreeze groaned from the partial gravity of Earth yanking on his shuttle with his hard turn. “I can feel charge inside the ship atmosphere! It can affect that wide of an area!?”

“Nonlethally, yes. The beam we can see is the lethal portion of the power concentration,” Warp Turtle explained on the comms. “It creates a wave of charged particles far larger. We're just thankfully shielded against such in the space-ready ships.”

Volt Catfish's voice was next on the line, the large Reploid eyeing his sensor screens warily. “That even tugged away a small portion of atmosphere. We can't let that fire again.”

In HQ, Signas looked up at the holodisplay of the ships and Final Weapon gravely. “We won't. Alia, how long do we have before it can hit Earth?”

Alia ducked her head tightly. “...Barely three minutes.”

“Signal the council to have the defense cannons brought to ready-fire status.”

Alia's hands hovered over the keys. “...Signas...”

“Do you really think X would want that kind of risk taken for just him?”

Her eyes squeezed shut... and she typed in the message.

“...And let X know he has two minutes to get the hell out of there.”

“Yes, sir.”

* * *

Sigma finally soured in expression. He twirled his scythe, and narrowed his optics at X. “How did you even guess that? There's no data you can access to confirm what the station is doing!”

X's colors switched, golden and white as energy began to pour over his frame. “You've never been happy just fighting me. You only smile when you're winning... virus.”

Sigma growled through bared teeth. “Fine. DIE WITH YOUR WORLD THEN!”

Sigma burst forward, scythe slicing. X dashed backward, watching. When Sigma leapt high, X boosted up to meet him, and then aimed with both busters before firing a fully charged Lightning Web.

The empowered weapon burst out explosively, filling the span of the chamber between the two robotic nemeses.

Sigma widened his optics, trying to jerk back, but he was already too close. His scythe caught in the webbing first, and he slammed into it next.

His frame was finely tuned to channel power from his own weapons, but such a massive overload of external power right into his systems was far too much for their already high charge.

Sigma roared in frustration, rage, and pain as his body started to critically expel power, frying and bursting as different components failed.

X landed heavily to one hand and his knees as Sigma's debris rained down amidst the dispersing web.

After cycling his respirator for a beat, he bolted to the control consoles on that level of the core, quickly checking if they could stall the operation and aiming systems. It didn't take him long, in growing frustration, to confirm these were only maintenance and observation consoles.

Dashing back from them, he saw a maintenance hatch leading down, and wrenched it open to drop into the lower level several meters below. He ignored the ladder there, and took the drop heavily, sprinting for the first set of consoles he could spot on the heavily industralized core deck.

Just as he reached the console area, however, he heard a chime, and his enhanced senses were the only reason he could dive aside in time.

A line of light pierced the air he'd occupied, and the consoles, just before the consoles burst and exploded into molten parts.

X rolled along, his personal shielding flashing and flickering as super-heated shrapnel tried to cling to him. He had to stare in controlled panic at the complete destruction of the control mechanisms. And the station was still moving.

“It's not going to be that easy this time, Megaman X.”

X slowly turned his head with a firm glare up to a distorted, warped version of Sigma.

Barely recognizable other than stretched, embedded face on top of a smooth section of metal, Sigma was little more than a torso attached to a heavy maintenance crane, holding a massive beam-cannon that looked warped and molded rather than built, possibly out of a heavy repair torch.

“...You're turning the station into your body.”

“Bit by bit!” Sigma confirmed with a grin. “It's too large for standard processor control, after all, but c'est la vie...”

Sigma trailed off, but his cannon aimed instantly, firing another raking flash of light. X spin-hopped with all four limbs to get himself out of the fire path before it could hit him. The explosion that followed from whatever concentration of energy it was utilizing sent him flying across the deck.

And then a large machine appeared over him, starting to open part of its form and unleash a gout of fire.

X dive-rolled away from the flame, only to realize it was a large Sigma-head, with lifeless eyes and crimson plating.

Two more heads floated into view, one crackling with energy and yellow color, the last frosting over the air from its blue surfaces.

Sigma's crane-body was able to fluidly drift around the high portion of the chamber, and was aiming again. “It's time to die!”

Lightning, freezing gas, and fire all burst toward X, immediately punctuated by a piercing laser shot through the core of the exploding conflict of powers.

X burst out of the heated gases, his body trailing power as he drew it in. Sigma's torso-crane grinned and abruptly retreated into the ceiling, completely out of view in a blink. X skidded to a halt, frustrated, but still sucking energy into his body. He glanced over his shoulder as his sensors warned him about the three floating weapon-heads.

The lightning head started to fire concentrated balls of crackling power as the other two sped up, flying to ram at X instead of using their weapon systems.

X twist-flipped, running along the side of the red head, passing between the first two electrical blasts. Dash-leaping from the one head, X cut off his charging, sailing just over another sphere-bolt. Both busters formed, and he landed by jamming them both into the lifeless eyes of the yellow head. The next instant, he fired.

The yellow head was mostly erased by the twin full-power blasts that exploded through it. A lower jaw of machinery crashed down limply before X backflipped down from the inertia of his shots.

His sensors flared again, and he twisted to look at the base of one wall as it grotesquely broke and fragmented around a giant Sigma-head, this one far more detailed, and keenly aware in the optics. In truth, the giant head looked like a mutilated human head forced into cyberization.

X was ready to fire at it, but its mouth fell open, and catastrophic air-pressure suddenly blasted across the entire deck toward X.

As X immediately scrambled to stop from flying backwards, digging his fingers into the metal flooring, the opposite wall burst apart with huge spikes, and the red and blue heads came charging down at him.

X growled, braced his frame, and just as the two head would collide with him, he wrenched himself forward, thrusters exploding to maximum power.

It allowed him to fly just past the two mechanical heads, which tore themselves apart on impact, and X kept sailing forward despite the air blast.

His momentum started to weaken compared to the air force... but not before he clamped a hand down onto the lower lip of the huge mouth. With a dark glare into the huge optics, he jammed his other buster down into the throat, and fired another fully charged blast.

Part of the head flew apart, another was flash-liquified, and it immediately collapsed back into the ruined wall.

X realized something above him was shifting, and he burst backward, his optics widening as he watched three new colored heads descend out of the roof, their plating still steaming from immediate construction.

Air rushing behind him made X jerk to look over his shoulder as well, seeing the crane-body reappear with a smug expression over the already-aiming piercer-cannon.

“You don't even know how to stop this weapon, yet alone kill me! Prepare to become SPACE DUST!”

X flickered to one side, the line of light from the cannon piercing his stains of color. As the wall exploded from the shot, the three heads shot down in formation, jaws opening. X had to continue into a flurry of constantly sprinting, dashing, while ducking, sliding, flipping, wall-running, and hand-flips between shockwaves of electricity, waves of freezing cryonic gas, plumes of flame, and periodic pierce-explosions.

Despite his initial alarm, X had adapted in those seconds, and his expression fell into sharp calculation. Sigma wasn't wrong, but it was also a distraction. With direct infection of the station's core deck, consoles weren't going to be an option anyway. What he needed was to end this fight, and get into the actual mechanism at the base of the primary weapon tower. He also had to assume Sigma had direct control of the machinery in that area, too, at least.

With his Light-enhanced senses near maximum for most of the fight, he now had keen instincts for how these warped machine-bodies were moving, and how Sigma was fighting in these alien bodies.

Just as the blue and yellow heads started to slam down in front of him, X leapt with his legs forward. Landing into the two heads as they started to come apart against the ground, X thruster-leapt backwards, arcing up, along the face of the red head starting to unleash a torrent down at the crash point.

X continued to sail over the red head, twisted to hand-flip off of it, and leapt even higher... just over the barrel of the cannon Sigma was starting to fire.

The malformed optics widened as X slammed down into Sigma's chest, grabbing the back of his 'neck' with one hand, and jamming the other buster straight into his forehead gem.

“We both know this isn't even really you,” X rasped darkly, and fired.

The final stored blast was still full power. X released his hand just as he released the shot, letting Sigma's warped head, chest, and most of the arms flash-melt and incinerate amidst a wash of star-hot light.

Flipping around and dropping to his haunches, X braced for a few seconds. The Frankenstein-like bodies were still retracting. Likely, it was just to rebuild, but it did mean X had a short time unmolested.

X wrenched back, his body taut, and then his optics blazed bright. Another giga attack charge. He twisted down, and rocketed himself into the flooring yet again, this time flash-melting only one level down.

The super-hot power faded back over his body, and he fell for several meters, slowly flipping over to land down to haunches once more, this time denting a crater into the flooring.

All around this observation-platform were massive gears and pieces of machinery, actively running to shift the weapon into final position along with the station's thrusters outside.

X formed both busters, his colors starting to shimmer and change in rapid sequence, along with his weapons' specific shapes, as he looked around, his optics soaking up the environment to help his sensors calculate exactly what points needed to be jammed, decimated, or otherwise halted.

Something large started to fall ahead of him.

X braced, energy building over his frame as he aimed... at the ruined, but hovering body of the General himself.

“General...?”

“You have fought well, Megaman X, and I see that my people have been evacuated. My systems are failing as we speak, but there is one service I may yet render in the name of freedom.”

X squinted, but did ease slightly. “What are you talking about?”

“As you said, many died for my choices. I have lost. I will honor the fallen by ending this madness that was never meant to be. I will block the mechanism with my body.”

X eased his arms down, his charge fading off. “...You'll die to stop the firing mechanism...”

General nodded. “Just so. It will also cause a misfire, I imagine. You should leave. Now. There are still a few of our Repliforce ships left in the hangars.”

A bestial roar echoed from above, and they both looked up to see an even less formed Sigma-giant trying to claw its way down to stop them.

“...I can save you, General,” X offered calmly despite this madness.

“But I ask you not to. I have followed my ethics, let me die with them.”

X exhaled slowly, and nodded. His hands reverted, he twisted, and flickered back toward the actual exit from the machinery level.

General floated around, hearing Sigma's giant body started to break down toward this deck, and looked down into the core interlock mechanism that would load the dischargers for firing.

“It was an honor, brave soldiers of Repliforce.”

He cut his thrusters, and Sigma screamed in frustration.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I goofed up and was late twice in a row, posting this one early! Thanks for all the feedback on the Iris plot elements of the previous chapter, folks, really appreciate it!


	15. Commander-General

Alia tried to control the panic rising up through her systems, her station showing her the slow disintegration of Final Weapon as it started to tear itself apart. The command center was conspicuously silent, only resounding with the hum of consoles and software beeps.

“...X?”

Her intention had been to hail him urgently, hoping he was on some ship too small to detect with so much heat and debris starting to fly out, but all that really came out was a quiet, terrified rasp.

The static that replied was deafening for everyone in the command center.

“X...?” Alia called again, her optics watering.

The static trailing on had her crying, her jaw flexing slowly as she tried to stay in control of herself.

“...Please respond...” strained out of her throat.

Static...

“--ere, Alia! Radiation discharges were scrambling my comms!”

Alia nearly folded in her console, jittery from relief that was too deep to really articulate. Signas and Dex were finally cycling their respirators after holding them longer than they'd even realized.

“C-Copy, X! Status?” Alia valiantly kept her voice business-like, but there was a tremble in it she couldn't fully stop.

In his stolen Repliforce shuttle, X glanced to the comm console with empathetic pain. He'd terrified her... “The virus had infected portions of the station itself. General sacrificed himself to mechanically block the weapon. The Repliforce rebellion is over.”

Signas saw Alia touch near her own optics, and so he cut into the comm to give her an excuse for a moment.

“X, Zero returned safely... with Iris.”

“I'm glad. The evacuees?”

Dex offered, “All accounted for that we could record in the first place. Hopefully Repliforce survivors will be willing to coordinate their records with us to properly account for any losses.”

Alia finally spoke again, resting her hand on the comm gently. “...Just get home, X...”

“On my way, Lieutenant.”

It was a gentle, warm tone, even a little apologetic... it made her smile at last.

* * *

The stockade facility that had been fast-fabricated for all the Repliforce personnel taken captive was unusually quiet. X stood in the center of part of the massive facility, but his appearance was displayed in every cell via holospheres. He was serious, even sorrowful as he addressed them all.

“General has died. He died saving the world from the virus that had infected parts of the Final Weapon station. He died to honor your sacrifices and your loyalty to his cause. He died so that all of you could live on, very specifically.

“I will not lie to any of you. I nearly killed him myself. Brutally so. He would not back down from his ideals, just as Colonel would not, just as you would not.

“However, when a greater threat appeared, he immediately acted with all of his power to protect you, humanity, and my comrades. That is something I will never forget.

“The Repliforce rebellion is over, but you are still here, and none of you were infected. I will return soon, with a path forward for all of you. I know that listening to me is likely impossible for many of you, who have lost loved ones to this unnecessary fight. I only ask you to trust my own convictions. I will return soon. Honor your General. In the end, even I could see his worth.”

X turned away, fading out of the holoview and direct lighting, leaving all the hundreds of soldiers pensive or grieving.

Even Web Spider, Storm Owl, and Slash Beast were left—though saddened for General—thoughtful and intrigued. Slash Beast especially actually smiled a little. He knew better than most how hard X tried to keep people alive.

* * *

Dr. Cain stood in the intensive-care wing of medbay, a mildly stunned expression never leaving his face. Zero and Iris were before him, resting in repair mode in directly adjacent beds, both of them still powered by Zero's own core. Iris' body was covered with soft fabric for the time being, and she looked peaceful rather than broken. The specifics of what had been done to her body were complex and dangerous, but she would have her own power core again very soon.

Zero stirred gently, apparently rousing himself from repair mode. Dr. Cain focused, curious what would make Zero do so.

Once aware, Zero immediately turned to look to Iris, not even registering Dr. Cain's presence yet, and reached out, gently touching her shoulder.

“...I've always known you to be a strong and kind person, Zero.”

Zero blinked, finding Dr. Cain, blushing slightly.

Dr. Cain smiled simply before he continued. “Even so, the effect she has on you is beautiful to behold.”

Zero's blush lingered, but he half-smiled for a beat... then became serious and concerned. “Will she really survive?”

Dr. Cain nodded. “Replacing her core is a risky surgery repair, but perfectly doable. Physically, at least, she will be fine.”

Zero let his head lull back, nodding faintly. “Thank Light...”

Dr. Cain eased a step closer. “Speaking of... How on earth did you rig your core into her system like this? The surgical technique is... astonishing, and the speed it had to be performed at...”

Zero blinked, looking at Dr. Cain in confused surprise. “...I didn't.”

Dr. Cain jerked his head back. “You mean...”

“X saved her. He tore right through the damn station to get to us, and he just... did it. I've never seen anything like it.”

Dr. Cain focused down on the connections between their two bodies with renewed, grave awe. “...X has that level of technical mastery?”

“So it surprises you, too, after all?”

Dr. Cain nodded without hesitation. “...This is... master-level technique, Zero. I'm honestly not sure I could have done it, even with a lab available. If he can do this...”

“Then it kinda puts a few other things in perspective, doesn't it?”

Dr. Cain nodded more slowly. “...I'll have her ship-shape as soon as possible. Let you both rest, Zero.” He reached out, resting a hand on Zero's leg lightly.

Zero half-smiled, tipped his head, and then let himself drift back into repair mode.

Dr. Cain became almost fearful as he looked back to the connections between the two Reploids.

“...Dr. Light, I think I'm finally starting to grasp why you sealed him up for a hundred years... Was it long enough?”

* * *

Maverick Hunter HQ had a feeling of calm before the storm the morning of the next day. The fighting was over, the higher ups were planning what to do next, and keeping things secure was the only order of the day. As a result, Vi's early arrival at the physical therapy area her group had been using was quiet and dimly lit. She'd been the first arrival for some time already, using it as practice walking smoothly. She almost looked natural walking now.

She was mildly puzzled when she saw that one of the technician consoles was active off on the side, and she started to move over to it. She smiled gently as she realized it was Shimmer. If a Reploid could, he looked exhausted.

“Did you never rest?”

Shimmer jerked slightly, and his optics found her in the simple gloom. He smiled, though there was a shy hint to it. “I didn't have to do much, really. Escort some prisoners and such. I wanted to see what I missed. You've all been showing great improvement on the metrics.”

Vi kept her smile. “Not everything is metrics. I tell you what; I'll show you something if you agree to go get rest after?”

Her playful tone kept Shimmer at ease, and he stood up to walk over to her. “Oh, a secret? Will I get in trouble with Dr. Cain and Warp Turtle?”

Vi stuck her tongue out at him, and then gestured for Shimmer to follow her. Shimmer was pleased with how confidently she was moving. She was a bit slower than would be natural for her gait, but it was fluid, and she kept her balance.

He was only mildly confused when Vi reached a music player on one side of the therapy space. She turned it on, and set it to a mild dance tune. It wasn't incredibly fast, and it seemed more relaxing than upbeat.

“Have you been practicing dancing?” Shimmer asked with pleasure.

Vi smirked, holding a finger up to her lips to shush him... as she walked over to him directly, and took his hands, softly tugging Shimmer into a gentle dance.

At first, Shimmer was startled and anxious, paranoid of tripping her or stepping on her new feet, but she just smiled indulgently at him as she continued to lightly lead through the swaying, turning dance. It took some time, but soon Shimmer was relaxing, and self conscious for an entirely different reason.

“...You're really doing well,” he managed so softly she could only hear it because they were close.

Vi brightened her smile a little. “Thanks to you three. I... got the impression this might be a better 'thank you' than just saying it.”

She was blushing subtly as she finished.

Shimmer looked down, shy and anxious. She didn't press, and they continued softly turning with the music.

Abruptly, Shimmer's optics shut, and he tugged just a little, making them stop. Vi turned concerned.

“I'm sorry, did I cross the line?”

Shimmer rattled his head so fast for 'no' that his neck clicked.

Vi waited, staying close, but worried for him.

Shimmer cycled his respirator steadily, clearly managing psychological stress. At last, his voice rasped out, clear for her, but strained and quiet. “I was a Maverick.”

Vi was startled, though she didn't retreat. Confusion was her primary reaction. “...W-was?” whispered back.

Shimmer nodded tensely. “I was just like the ones that hurt you. S-someone gave me a chance to make amends once I was free of the virus, but I... I do care about... you,” he weakly admitted, looking up into her eyes, grieved and guilty, “and I... couldn't hide it if you... were...” He couldn't finish, his optics squeezing shut.

Vi did seem to grow wary, but it was subtle rather than violent. “...Were you one of the ones that did this to me?”

Her tone was sincere, not accusatory. She was asking, trying to understand.

Shimmer shook his head sharply, “But that's... it's coincidental, not... If I'd been part of this wave of the virus' activity, I likely could've been.”

Vi kept her eyes tight, still trying to understand properly what he was straining to get across to her. “The virus takes control, doesn't it? You didn't have a choice?”

“That's what they tell us, but... when you're infected it... You can't tell. It uses you against yourself, so it... it's nearly impossible to be sure that you're not... still a monster... hiding...”

Vi seemed to relax, almost pouting for him as Shimmer kept his optics shut, his head bowed.

After a moment of silence, she reached up, resting her hand against his cheek. Shimmer's optics flared open, though still staring down. It took him several seconds to risk looking up to her eyes... which he found to be gentle, warm, and kind still.

“All I know about you, Shimmer, is that you're kind, caring, and you work yourself to the bone to help people and protect them.” She let her hand ease away, continuing more seriously, “We all have monsters in us, Shimmer. Any real mind does. But you? You're no more a monster than I am.”

Shimmer swallowed in social habit before he could speak. “...Thank you...”

It was all he could get out. He reached a hand up, rolling it around in mild frustration with his inability to speak.

Vi giggled gently, and pulled him into a hug. Shimmer was startled afresh... and then bowed his head into her shoulder, hugging her close.

“We should dance again, soon.”

“...I would love that...”

* * *

The small differences in Cadis' appearance were not enough to stop Spikesaw and Snapvice from hurrying up to her and pulling her into hugs. She giggled, returning the hugs happily as Tripwire hung back, clearly pleased with how pleasant this moment was.

Easing back from her hug of Snapvice, Cadis playfully set her hands on her hips. “I heard you all won the fight without me!”

Spikesaw shook his head. “Would've been hard to win if you hadn't given us the warning you did, Cadis. Any issues with the repairs? You're looking... solid,” he chose with an approving nod and a mild glance down her frame.

Cadis grinned, and turned her head to one side. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, making the modified plating up one side of her neck and part of her cranial shell more obvious. That plating then articulated open and spread, creating a target-lock system that capped over her right optic.

And next, she lifted her right arm, which, like her overall frame, was more heavily armored and stronger. Once it lifted, the lower and outer portions shifted plating as a heavy barrel rotated out and snapped forward. Her sniper rifle was now part of her arm.

“Courtesy of Dr. Cain. Since I was getting put back together anyway, asked for a couple of upgrades.”

Snapvice whistled. “Was wondering if you went that route. Battle-body, too. You're definitely a Maverick Hunter.”

Cadis mock-pouted. “Are you saying I wasn't before?”

Tripwire loped forward. “Yeah, Snapvice, what the scrap?”

Snapvice slapped his face, and the other three laughed lightly.

“So, what's the plan today?” Cadis started afresh, relaxing into casual attention.

Turning more serious, the other three shared a mild look, and Tripwire answered, “Special meeting. Of _the group_.”

Cadis raised her eyebrows. “So soon? I... kinda figured me... learning about that was incidental?”

Tripwire shrugged. “Happy to have more help, and it was X's idea in this case.”

Spikesaw patted Cadis on the back heavily. “We only get so careful about recruiting because of the risks. You're definitely welcome.”

Cadis smiled gently, blushing a little. “Looking forward to that meeting then.”

Snapvice touched his audio-receptor. “...Okay, our turn shortly.”

Tripwire glanced to Cadis, affirming, “We don't want to make it so easy to tell all of us going to the same spot.”

Cadis nodded. “OpSec high at all times. Explains a lot.”

Her dry smile with that comment made Tripwire cough awkwardly, and the other two glance off.

* * *

“These physical meetings are too risky. I hope this one is worth it,” Quickman muttered grumpily as he stepped through one of the entry passages underground.

Barrel caught the door from him. “Has he ever called one that wasn't?”

“Matter of opinion!”

Turbo appeared from another branch with Pyrostrike and Blast Squirrel. “...Quickman whining again?”

“I am not a whiner!”

“Yes.”

Pyrostrike and Blast Squirrel just laughed lightly as Turbo shook his head too-seriously at Quickman, who just tossed his arms up and kept marching past them all.

They weren't far from the bunker's core chamber. As they stepped down into it, little nods or waves were shared.

Around the space, Signas leaned back against the center of the wall opposite X, Mapteron and Warp Turtle seated near him on either side.

Further on, Airstrike, Inferno, and Shimmer were arrayed around a small cluster of seats, Inferno posed similarly to Signas just behind the others.

Deepfreeze and Overload shared a couch further toward X, both casual, though clearly curious.

Alia had Cadis and Dr. Cain with her, the two 'new' faces sharing looks of controlled astonishment as they realized how many people were involved in the X-Hunters.

Tripwire, Spikesaw, and Snapvice were just a little further behind Cadis and company, mostly leaning against the wall there.

X tipped his head as the last arrivals got settled.

“Thank you for coming, everyone. I know it was a pain, but enough has changed, and enough is coming, that I wanted to make sure we touched base without need for obfuscated communication.”

Seeing X this commanding, but naturally so, was a strange moment for Dr. Cain. He could see how adult X was for the first time... and how weighed down. For Cadis, it was less shocking, she'd suspected this kind of side to him thanks to her personal experience with his more extreme actions.

“Let's get the most obvious issue out of the way. Cadis and Dr. Cain are fully aware of us. As for any of you, their own ethics are their guiding force. For now, they're on board with our way of doing things, but they both have concerns. As long as you take care with where and how you talk, please do be honest with them, as I know you want to be.”

X glanced over to them, giving Cadis a gentle smile, which she returned. There was a note of relief between them, X for her safety and vitality, Cadis for his honesty. Alia was just smiling gently, glad of this small bit of relief in the whole situation.

Dr. Cain gave a little nod to X's look, feeling some weight come off his shoulders now that he was more aware of just what X was doing and why. The surgery X had done on Zero and Iris was all the more reason for him to realize X was far more capable than he'd estimated... just not invincible.

X finally continued, “Unfortunately, that's the end of the good news. We're all here to stop the virus, truly and finally. Most of us have known this was a long-haul mission from day one.” He glanced to Cadis and Dr. Cain, “It still is.” Looking out again, he said, “as I told you all before, the only way we'll get to the core of the virus, the original strain that's the seed for the others, is if it feels totally confident it can come out to defeat me, as Dr. Light's last creation. That pride is our only advantage.”

X then fully focused on Cadis and Dr. Light. “This situation is about to get very complicated, so I want to lay some cards on the table for you both especially. I have slipped. I have made mistakes. Zero stopped me from killing Magma Dragoon. I failed to stop Colonel without horrifically injuring him. I did these. They were not part of the plan I'm about to explain... but I will make use of them to help it.”

Cadis and Dr. Light grew understandably firm, and as they glanced around, saw that they weren't the only ones concerned rather than confident. Signas especially looked grim..

X looked back out across the group. “The virus needs to feel that I'm vulnerable, that it can get to me. As a result, I'm going to make myself appear that way. Unstable, dangerous, arrogant. I am not, nor will I ever, ask any of you to betray your ethics for a tactic. That is why parts of this plan are being kept from you. I want you—I need you—to keep me in check sincerely. I promise you, it is part of my plan, but my actions will become dangerous and troubling. Respond to them honestly. I am not asking for you to cover for my actions.”

Cadis raised a hand, and everyone blinked, but didn't try to stop her.

X gestured for her to speak.

“Are you basically saying you're going to act Maverick, now that you're in charge of nearly every anti-Maverick resource we have?”

X nodded. “Exactly so.”

Cadis' eyes widened. “That's...”

“Incredibly dangerous, and I don't expect any of you to play along with my madness. I'm just promising you, here and now, before I fully initiate the plan, that you didn't create a mad man by helping me. Treat me as you would anyone acting the way I will be acting, but I wanted you all to know, as my friends... my family,” he added softly with a glance toward Alia and Dr. Cain, which gained soft, though worried looks from each, “that I am not betraying you. I am asking you to be true to yourselves, and that once this plays out... we should finally win over the virus.”

“So from here on out...?” Signas prompted seriously.

X tipped his head. “As of this meeting, do not treat me as a member of the X-Hunters. Re-secure everything, remove my clearance, create a new base of operations if you need one.”

A grim current ran around the room, Dr. Cain pensive, realizing he'd already been acting in this capacity... and X had never really blamed him for that.

“...Agreed?” X finally asked, looking around the room.

It was no cheerful response, but nods, little comments of agreement flowed out of the different corners of the group.

“Then dismissed. I'll be heading out shortly myself.”

As the others filed out in their scattered groups, Alia moved to X, only touching his arm. His hand reached over hers with a tight squeeze. They shared a tearful glance before she eased away to depart as well.

At last... Signas was left, standing there, facing X seriously.

X waited, listening.

“I need to ask something of you, X.”

“What do you need?”

Signas shook his head. “It's not like that.” He glanced down, and then slowly met X's eyes again. “You are the most powerful force in this world.”

X's optics tightened.

“And you're only going to become more powerful. Every fight, every discovery, you just keep adapting and refining. If you ever actually went Maverick, no one could actually stop you.”

X grew uncomfortable, grimacing somewhat, and looked down.

“So I have to ask something of you...”

“...What?”

“When this is over, this plan of yours—if we actually end the virus at last—I want you to disarm. Mechanically, physically. I am asking you to put yourself in a weaker, normal body... because I'm terrified of the day you _want_ to fight.”

X looked at his own hand for a moment. He couldn't imagine wanting to fight... but the other times, the times where his rage made him _need_ to fight, to crush, to tear bodies apart... Signas was right.

He closed his hand for a moment... and then opened it forward to Signas, offering a hand-shake.

“You're right.”

“You'll do as I asked?”

“I will. Once the virus is defeated.”

Their hands gripped.

* * *

Councilor Teagan poured himself a tumbler of whiskey, the burnt-amber fluid flowing around one large ice cube. He stood in his kitchen, clearly exhausted, his shirt undone, tie loose. Massaging the bridge of his nose, he took a deep breath, let it out, and then finally sipped his drink with a little wince at the burn he'd wanted.

“You seem exhausted, Chairman.”

Teagan jerked violently, nearly spilling his drink. He stumbled back against the opposite counter, staring in wide-eyed horror at Megaman X at the end of his kitchen in the gloom.

“How the hell did you get into my house!?”

“Easily.”

It was a flat, calm statement, X's gaze never leaving his own.

Teagan swallowed, his heart still hammering, but he reached for his drink. He took a sip, still staring back at X. “...What do you want?”

X stepped into what little light there was. “You're going to propose a suggestion to the council for me. You'd be the only opposition to the idea normally, and I'm in a bit of a rush.”

Teagan chuckled, slipping one hand into his pocket. There was his data-phone, and he started to tap on it to activate his emergency signal to his security teams as he spoke casually. “And what's this suggestion I'm supposed to put forward for you then?”

“Since the Repliforce is in Maverick Hunter custody, but most of them were never Maverick, you're going to suggest they be adopted under the Maverick Hunter banner, with me in charge of them.”

Teagan choked to stop a laugh, setting his whiskey down. “So you're threatening a councilman just to cement your power base, huh? You're not subtle, are you?”

“No, I'm not,” X smoothly answered. “But neither are you, which is another reason I chose you.” X gestured to his pocket. “I had your phone deactivated before you saw me.”

Teagan twitched, and then yanked the phone out... it was just an error screen. He'd never even seen the error before.

When he looked up, X was right there in front of him, and Teagan jerked again, but stayed still afterward. He was frozen by the hard, cold stare from X's so-human optics.

“You and I both know you placed Double. It took me a little while to figure out why you'd sell out your own species, but then I found your accounts overseas, and the timing of your latest 'savings deposits.'”

X tilted his head down, showing the full force of his dark rage.

“Because of you, many lives were lost, and a very dear friend was nearly killed beyond that.”

Teagan swallowed tightly, and remained silent.

X started to turn away, remarkably silent for a Reploid on a tile floor. “So, you're going to do me a favor, or I make sure every news outlet on Earth knows you sabotaged humanity's defenses during the most critical battle in recent history. All your work to cement your power base will evaporate the following election, and you'll be forced into the private sector... where I have even more options. ...Good night, Chairman.”

Teagan was frozen long after X had disappeared... until his phone beeped, startling him. It was booting back up normally.

With a shout of rage, he hurled his drink across the kitchen.

* * *

//Come on, you enjoyed that a _little_ , admit it.//

//Heh, I did, but all the more reason it's part of the plan. ...You did amazing work bypassing all of his security so quietly. The phone was an amazing touch.//

//Hey, it's my last hurrah as your personal operator, X, I had to make it good. ...I am sad we'll have to go so silent soon.//

//I know, Alia... I... wish I could apologize, but choosing to do this makes that...//

//I understand, and we agreed. If it works... it'll be worth it.//

//...Thank you.//

//Just make sure I get to yell at you after, okay?//

//Heh... yes, ma'am.//

* * *

Holo-recorders flashed and hummed all around the council chamber as X moved around to take his seat before the council once again. Chairman Teagan cleared his throat as he leaned forward and drew attention with a quick gavel-strike.

“Maverick Hunter Commander X, do you know why you have been summoned before this body?”

X leaned his head to the audio receptor on the table for him, “Not at this time, Chairman.”

Teagan nodded, looking every bit the professional, focused councilor, betraying no signs of stress or worry. He was getting mild side-eyes from other council members, but he didn't stop carrying forward.

“Based on a suggestion of my own, the council has reached an important decision.”

There were more flashes, and X remained quite attentive, listening.

“Due to the unique nature of the Repliforce conflict, and verified reports from your own organization confirming that the majority of Repliforce members were non-infected Reploids obeying orders from their superiors, this Council has decided on how best to apply their training and equipment for combat. They will be integrated into the standing Maverick Hunter command chain, and serve under your leadership, as a dedicated, focused organization on protecting humanity and Reploid alike from Maverick—or infected—Reploids. Commander-General X, do you accept this responsibility and all the demands it entails?”

X stood up and saluted. “I will do everything possible to protect against the virus threat, Councilor!”

Teagan showed a subtle hint of aggravation, but then simply declared, “It's done!” and struck the gavel again.

* * *

Gate leaned back, exhaling as he shut off the holodisplay showing X's promotion and the celebratory headlines. After all, the hero of humanity had even more power to save humanity now. Gate pondered this, and then started to smile a little.

Reaching down, he touched a control on the arm of his chair, opening a comm line. “Master, I trust you're following the news?”

“Your point?” Sigma's distorted voice returned, dark and growling.

“This is perfect. It's exactly what we've needed. You'll be able to corner him, soon.”

“Your suggestion for Repliforce had my attention, but failure is all you've brought me. If you're so sure of this one? Prove it to me.”

The line went dead.

Gate sighed heavily. “I did underestimate his power, but now we can turn his power against him. Oh... this will be perfect.”

* * *

Idly, Zero realized he was more nervous waiting in this lounge than if he was facing down an army of Mavericks. This did not help his nerves, and he took a breath, rubbing at his temple. He knew Iris was okay, of course. Her core-replacement had gone as smoothly as could be asked.

He'd made the mistake of watching the replacement, and the little flickers of power-drop at three different points nearly killed him.

“Sorry I kept you waiting, Zero.”

Her beautiful voice, gently guilty, flowed over him from behind.

He smiled instantly, and stood, turning around. “It's f--!” he cut himself off instantly as he saw her, his eyes wide with gentle astonishment.

Iris blushed, bashfully tucking some of her short, bob-cut hair behind an ear. Her poofy dress-frame had been remodeled into a similarly colored long-coat format, with slim leg plating rather than large, curving plates.

Zero finally realized he was staring, and coughed, rattling his head. “New look overall, huh?”

Iris giggled a bit, nodding. “Was a bit tired of the long hair, and I thought it was time for a change,” she explained, warm and pleasant, simply also serious.

Zero tipped his head to her, and came around the chair he'd been using. Being invited to her home had thrilled him more than he wanted to admit, but now it was just beautiful. Seeing her there, real, happy, alive.

Especially compared to that horrifying moment when she fell in pieces out of the failing armor... it was like waking from a nightmare to the sheer relief of morning light.

“...You look perfect,” he managed softly after staring again.

Iris had been gazing into his eyes, unbothered by his silent stare, because she saw how warm, kind, and appreciative it was. His words made her blush again, shyly glancing down.

Guilt started to soak through her demeanor, and she started, “I'm so sorry I fou--!?”

She was cut off, squeaking in surprise, as Zero abruptly rushed forward and coiled her into an embrace. Her shock faded to appreciation... and then also realizing he was trembling. Iris' eyes squeezed shut, and she gripped tighter into the hug, too.

“Please forgive me,” strangled out of Zero.

Iris blinked, staying close, but confused. “...For what?”

“For not keeping your brother safe, for killing you, for being such a useless jerk that put all the wrong things first, and having to be saved by you and X both just to realize it!”

He was weeping. His body, his voice made it perfectly clear to her, and all she could do was squeeze him tighter as she fought back sobs herself.

“Y-you didn't k-kill me... I'm right here...”

“Only b... because of X...”

She forced her voice stronger. “It wasn't X's core keeping me alive.”

Zero gasped softly. As her words sank in, he reached up, caressing over her hair. “...Please forgive me,” he had to repeat.

Iris weakly laughed, squeezing him tighter. “Only i-if... you forgive me?”

He finally barked a laugh, keeping her held tight. “...D-deal...”

Grateful silence filled the air around them as they stayed close, tight, and appreciative. Each knew they'd nearly lost the other... mostly because of their own choices. Every moment was a second chance now.

At length, when their servos were getting stiff from hanging on so tight, they slowly eased apart. Tenderly, they wiped each other's eyes.

“I-I know the timing is terrible, but can I ask about something?” Iris asked weakly, wincing at ruining the moment.

Zero was in a bit of a daze, but rattled his head free. “Of course, what is it?”

Iris smiled gratefully, then let her worry show through. “The situation with the Maverick Hunters. Isn't that... dangerous?”

Zero turned more serious. “You mean 'Commander-General X'?”

She nodded.

“Yes, extremely. And it being Teagan's idea is... outlandish. I... owe X more than my life, a few times over now, but...”

Iris rested a hand on Zero's chest. “Never let yourself stand by something wrong, Zero. It's not who you are... and I love who you are.”

Zero's response died on his lips, and he just stared into her eyes in the wake of those words. He reached up to grip her hand tight, still trying to get his mind to work enough to respond to her. “...And I love who you are...” finally whispered out.

Iris smiled happily, tearing up afresh, and leaned up to gently kiss him. “Your friend might be stumbling down a shadowed path. You've helped him before. You'll do it again.”

Zero smiled back. “...It's cheating to kiss me and then give me orders, you know?”

Iris became mischievous. “Oh? Then how about...” she leaned up to kiss him again, “after instead?” she finished, playful, muffled against his own lips.

Zero finally burst into giggles himself. “I can't believe I'm doing this... and I wouldn't want anything else.”

Iris caressed his cheek, smiling happily. “We'll make this dream work. It's the one we've got.”

* * *

To be concluded...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Author's Note] Thank you so much for reading Chronicle 4! This finale sets the stage for what's going to be the main thrust of 5's storyline and conflict. I hope you've enjoyed my take on the Repliforce saga!
> 
> I really appreciate the feedback and support. I posted 4 so quickly after 3 so that you would all know for-sure that I wasn't going to vanish for years on end. 
> 
> Chronicle 5 will be a very different kind of story, and will represent the greatest divergence from the canon storyline. If you've followed along this far, that might sound really interesting, and I hope so! But I do understand anyone made very anxious by that. 
> 
> There will be a longer gap between 4 and 5, mostly because I need to finish a separate story that I use the same writing regimen for. The good news is that story is progressing at a good clip, and I should be back on Chronicle 5 in a much more reasonable time-frame than the ridiculous 6 year gap between 2 and 3.
> 
> In the mean time, thank you for reading! Your feedback and attention is what keeps me coming back! --Cy


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